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Midshipman to 
Congress 



By 
The Hon. John B. Robinson 



Published Privately at 

Media, Pa. 

1916 






Copytieht, 1916, b7 
John B. Robinson 



"i" X \ °l w 



FOREWORD 

As a man approaches his seventieth year he begins to 
"Stop, Look and Listen," so far as his interest in this 
world's affairs are concerned. It is the great climacteric, 
and by the Psalmist there is very little of active life left 
in him. Many men live far beyond this milestone and do 
a great deal of work in the little time they have over the 
three-score and ten. Still, with the great average of per- 
sons at seventy their life has been lived and the good or 
bad they have done in their sojourning on this planet is 
"shoved behind them," as Kipling says. To a man who 
has had a good deal to do with public men and affairs, 
as the writer of this book has had, in summing up his 
past he must of necessity seem more than egotistical in 
relating his own experiences and his own intercourse and 
relations with events and public men. Yet I have found, 
and think it is the experience of all men who have held 
public places and mingled with passing events of im- 
portance, and especially those who are great readers and 
interested in intellectual books, that they like personal 
matters and that which relates to men personally better 
than anything else. 

We like very much indeed to read about those persons 
we have known and their actions, their history and life 
work. It is this which appeals to us. Such is this work, 
and I submit it to my friends in Delaware County and 
the State at large and my friends out and beyond the 
Keystone State — of whom I have a good big lot and 
who are a very warm-hearted and dear — to me — set of 
fellows. 

"This is the place. Stand still, my steed! 

Let me review the scene, 
And summon from the shadowy past 
The forms that once have been." 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Ancestry and Early Impressions .... 9 

CHAPTER II 

Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Town ... 21 

CHAPTER III 
School Days and Old Teachers .... 37 

CHAPTER IV 
Appointment to United States Naval Academy . . 47 

CHAPTER V 
In Europe and Other Cruises ..... 63 

CHAPTER VI 

China and Japan ....... 75 

CHAPTER VII 
Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 101 

CHAPTER VIII 
Engagement, Marriage and Resignation from Navy 115 

CHAPTER IX 
Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 121 

CHAPTER X 

Nomination and Election to the Legislature . . 147 

CHAPTER XI 
First Defeat — Election to the State Senate . . 169 

CHAPTER XII 

The State Senate and Election to Congress . . 191 



PAGB 



CONTENTS— Continued 

CHAPTER XIII 

The Republican League of Clubs Fight . . . 199 

CHAPTER XIV 
Congress and Life in Washington .... 203 

CHAPTER XV 
1894 and the Lieutenant Governorship Contest . 227 

CHAPTER XVI 
Senator Quay's Great Fight for the State Chairman- 
ship in 1895 231 

CHAPTER XVII 
1896, Presidential Year, and Defeat for Congress . 239 

CHAPTER XVIII 

McKinlcy Inauguration and the Assistant Secretary 

of the Navy Contest 247 

CHAPTER XIX 
State Senate Fights and State Senators . . . 255 

CHAPTER XX 
Presidents I Have Met 263 

CHAPTER XXI 
The City of Washington and Washington Life . 279 

CHAPTER XXII 
At the Editorial Desk Again 287 

CHAPTER XXIII 
Fugitive Pieces ....... 295 

CHAPTER XXIV 
Concluding Words ....... 321 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING 

Midshipman John Buchanan Robinson ... 

Mary Parker Robinson 15 

William Robinson, Jr. ..... . 21 

Birthplace and Residence of William Robinson, Jr. . 37"^ 

Graduating Class of the United States Naval Academy, 

1868 47 



Mutsuhito, Emperor II of Japan . . . , 75 

Senator Matthew Stanley Quay .... 231^ 

Congressman John B. Robinson .... 255 




MIDSHIPMAN JOHN BUCHANAN ROBINSON, AUGUST, 1864 
AFTER ADMISSION TO THE UNITED STATES ' 
NAVAL ACADEMY, THEN AT 
NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND 



CHAPTER I 

ANCESTRY AND EARLY IMPRESSIONS 

There may be, and there often is, indeed, a regard 
for ancestry which nourishes only a weak pride. 

But there is, also, a moral and philosophical respect 
for our ancestors, which benefits the character and im- 
proves the heart. — Daniel Webster. 

My ancestors were of true blue Scotch-Irish Presby- 
terian stock, coming from "that part of Scotland which 
lies in the north part of Ireland." 

The people on my father's side were in this country 
much earlier than those on the maternal side. My father 
and mother were distantly related in the old country, it 
having been traced up by the family at one time. 

My mother did not change her name when she was 
married, this giving rise to many obligations to her in 
her early married life, by reason of people of a super- 
stitious turn, who came to her for the reason that she did 
not change her name when she wedded and asked for 
some little trinket, which was supposed to be a palliative 
against diseases of children. 

My father's father, William Robinson, Jr., was the 
first male white child born on the north side of the Alle- 
gheny and Ohio Rivers at a spot near the end of what is 
now the Federal Street bridge. A copy of the old log 
cabin in which his mother lived is the present seal of the 
city of Allegheny, now Pittsburgh, North Side. There 
is a tradition that there was a female child born prior to 
his advent into the world, but of this I have no verifica- 
tion. However, it is well authenticated that he was the 
first among all the inhabitants of that vast and teeming 
territory north and west of the Ohio River stretching to 
"where rolls the distant Oregon and the lone wolf howls 
on Unalaska's shore." 

My mother's mother was a Buchanan, of Fintona, 
Tyrone County, and her people were linen drapers and 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

well-to-do for their day. Her dowry consisted of mate- 
rials coming from her father's looms and mill to her 
husband, Samuel Robinson, who was a jeweler and gold- 
smith and emigrated to this country, in 1817, with his 
wife and four children, two boys and two girls, the sec- 
ond son, John B. Robinson, being the one for whom I 
was named. 

The following is a copy of the notice printed at the 
time Samuel Robinson sold out his goldsmith business in 
Cookstown, the county seat of Tyrone County, Ireland: 

"To be sold by Auction, 
"(for ready money) 

"At the house of Samuel Robinson, watch-maker, 
Cookstown, on Friday, the third of July. All his house- 
hold furniture, consisting of mahogany drawers, chairs, 
tables, bedsteads, etc., china and Delf ; an excellent ba- 
rometer ; an eight day time piece ; with kitchen furniture 
and watch and clockmaker's tools. 

"Several watches long left with S. R. for repairs will 
be sold for the expenses if not previously called for. 

"Devlin, 

"Licensed Auctioneer. 

"William Canning, 

"Printer, Duncannon. 

"Cookstown, June 26, 1818." 

When he emigrated, this, and the sales of other little 
properties which he had, netted him a few thousand dol- 
lars, and he put this money in silver watches, bringing 
with him three gold watches — one which he wore and 
one for each of his sons. These watches, made in Liver- 
pool, England, are still in my possession and are very 
good specimens of the workmanship of that period. A 
gold watch was a very rare thing for a man to wear in 
this country as early as that time. Even a silver watch 
was considered a valuable asset to any one who could 

10 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

afford to have one. These watches he disposed of when 
he arrived in this country at a considerable profit and 
invested the money in land and property in Pittsburgh 
and around the forks of the Ohio River, the bulk of 
which, since much improved in value and built upon, is 
in possession of the family to-day. That he was a man 
of strong character and athletic build goes without say- 
ing, as after he arrived he walked from Pittsburgh to 
Youngstown, Ohio, to visit his brother, who had pre- 
ceded him to this country, a distance of fifty miles, and 
thought nothing of the jaunt, as I have often heard it 
told. His wife, whose maiden name was Letitia 
Buchanan, was the elder, and was reluctant to leave the 
old country and never was quite reconciled to the new. 
Although a strong, sturdy specimen of north of Ireland 
strain, both could take their "toddy," as I remember it 
in my boyhood, and this was thought nothing of in those 
days, as liquor was then on nearly every sideboard of 
those who could afford it, but they were all temperate 
people notwithstanding their disposition to take a nip 
when they felt they needed it. I have often myself 
taken up to my grandmother her nightcap, mixed by her 
husband, and got her blessing as I handed it to her, while 
she was reading her Bible, as she always did nightly 
before going to bed. In fact, they both were devout 
Presbyterians of the strictest type and never missed at- 
tending the service, no matter how inclement the weather, 
as long as they were able to walk to the church. Both 
died within a week of each other in March, 1851. 

William Robinson, Jr., my father's father, was not 
inconspicuously connected with the early history of Pitts- 
burgh and particularly his native town of Allegheny and 
Manchester, the suburb. He was the first Mayor of that 
city and the first president of the Exchange Bank of 
Pittsburgh. He was a member of the Legislature early 
in the '30's and was a Commissioner in 1842, with 
Charles McAllister, of Philadelphia, to go abroad under 
a Commission appointed by Congress and the Secretary 

11 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

of the Treasury — then a Pittsburgher, William Forward 
— to borrow the small sum of five million dollars 
($5,000,000) for this Government. Their report after 
returning to this country, after a futile attempt to secure 
the money at The Hague, La Bourse, in Paris, in 
Threadneedle Street, London, showed they were turned 
down on account of the then theory of this Government 
that the States were separate sovereignties. Although 
accredited on their commission with full faith and credit 
of the United States, the bankers of the Continent and 
England would not loan this money unless each one of 
the twenty-six States, then composing the Union — or 
Confederacy, as it should be called — was on the bond by 
Act of their Legislatures. 

William Robinson lived until 1868, and before his 
death saw hundreds of millions of dollars borrowed upon 
the face and credit of this Government through its bonds 
sold in Europe, because we had become, through the 
mighty struggle of 1861 to 1865, a nation. 

My paternal grandmother was Mary Parker, of Yellow 
Springs, near Carlisle, a daughter of "Old Mother Cum- 
berland." She was a daughter of Captain Alexander 
Parker, of the Pennsylvania Line, who, with Rocham- 
beau, Hamilton, Denny and other patriots, stormed the 
parallels in the victory at Yorktown. For this service in 
the war of the Revolution he received the whole site of 
the present city of Parkersburg, West Virginia, which 
passed to her upon his death. This tract, now immensely 
valuable, and the terminal of the Baltimore and Ohio 
Railroad lines, was sold by my grandfather in 1850 for 
about forty thousand dollars, which money he put into 
the stock of the Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad, then 
being exploited from Allegheny town along the banks of 
the Ohio to Beaver, Brighton and east Ohio. I recall 
going on the first excursion when this line of railroad 
was opened up. and the cards of invitation were similar 
to those which would be issued to-day for a railroad ex- 
cursion party or opening. My grandfather was the first 

12 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

president of the road, and signed these cards, as will 
appear from the fac simile here inserted : 

"RAILROAD EXCURSION 
"Office Ohio and Pennsylvania Railroad Co., 

"Pittsburgh, July 23rd, 1851. 

"An Excursion will take place on the Ohio and Penn- 
sylvania Railroad, from Pittsburgh to Rochester and 
New Brighton, and back on Wednesday, July 30th, 1851. 

"The cars will leave the Federal Street Station at ten 
o'clock in the morning, and will return to Pittsburgh in 
the afternoon. The distance to New Brighton is twenty- 
eight miles. 

"You are respectfully invited to be present on the occa- 
sion. 

"W. Robinson, Jr., 

"President. 

"N. B. — Please present this note to the Conductor of 
the Train." 

He continued at the headship of this road for three 
years, and was succeeded by George W. Cass, a graduate 
of West Point and a civil engineer of distinction. The 
first year that the road was opened to Crestline, Ohio, 
the Ohio River was very low and freight rates by water 
correspondingly high, consequently the road did a big 
business; but the next year the season was wet and the 
river was at flood nearly the whole time, and in the early 
spring of that year my grandfather, anticipating a sim- 
ilar rush of traffic, on his own responsibility ordered 
another locomotive, their being only one, which, by the 
way, bore his name, and also two new freight cars. This 
was about equivalent to double the present rolling stock 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. The following 
year the business fell off considerably, on account of the 
rates by the river being better, and the board of directors, 

13 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

in a fit of economy, removed the president for his rash- 
ness in expending so much money in the purchase of new 
stock. However, it soon was seen that the road would 
be profitable, and it afterward passed into the hands of 
the bankers, Lanier & Co., of New York, who subse- 
quently had it incorporated with the Pennsylvania line, 
and it became the through road, as it is to-day, to Chi- 
cago. The opposition to the building of the Ohio and 
Pennsylvania line was very great, especially among the 
farmers. They thought the locomotives would set fire 
to their grain and barns, and did not like the idea of 
giving away their land for the road. It was through the 
efforts of my ancestor, the president, that the objections 
were overcome, and he secured the co-operation of the 
Economite Society, which gave a large subscription to 
the stock of the road. He also, in company with others 
interested, made addresses in western Pennsylvania and 
east Ohio favoring the projection of the line. 

To go back a little, there was quite a romance con- 
nected with the marriage of my paternal grandfather 
and grandmother. She, a young slip of a girl, started 
from Carlisle on a visit to some cousins in Kentucky, but 
this visit did not come to fruition, as she stopped in 
Pittsburgh to meet some relatives there and met my 
grandfather, who was then a young and not a bad look- 
ing man of about twenty-five years. They fell in love 
and were married, as engagements in those days were 
never long continued, and the wedding took place at 
"The Old Denny Mansion," which formerly stood out 
beyond the Round House near the Union Depot, Pitts- 
burgh, and was only torn down a few years ago. The 
union proved to be a very happy one. They were blessed 
with many children and lived to celebrate their golden 
wedding, in 1860. Both died in 1868, within a few 
weeks of each other. Like my ancestors on the maternal 
side, my grandfather and grandmother were very strict 
Presbyterians, attending faithfully the old First Presby- 
terian Church of Pittsburgh, conducted by the Rev. 

14 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

Francis Hearn, a relative, by the way, of the wife of 
ex-President William Howard Taft. When, by reason 
of age, Dr. Hearn retired, he was succeeded by the Rev. 
William Paxton, a Princetonian, who took a wife from 
the congregation, one of the Dennys, and with her re- 
ceived a very handsome fortune. Dr. Paxton's successor 
was the late Dr. Sylvester Scovel, many years president 
of the University at Wooster, Ohio. 

William Robinson was born, lived and died upon the 
same spot at the end of the Sixth Street bridge, on the 
North Side, where in early days his father had con- 
ducted a ferry and kept a small inn at the same time. 
This ferry was superseded by the wooden bridge which 
was in use for many years until the present fine suspen- 
sion bridge was erected. My grandmother was a very 
devout Christian and noted in all the charitable work in 
her environment. For a number of years she presided 
over the Orphan Asylum in Allegheny and was very 
active in all the duties connected with this work for the 
young, and at her death the little orphan children came 
in a body to attend the funeral. So different are the 
surroundings at present from those that were in the 
early days in Pittsburgh and Allegheny that one could 
hardly believe it possible that people lived as they did 
then. There never was anything cooked in the home by 
my grandmother on the Sabbath day. The roast was 
always prepared on Saturday and eaten cold on Sunday. 
Family service was always held in the evening, and all 
were called in ; even the servants, maids and colored por- 
ters, with grandchildren, would have to listen to a long 
and very devout prayer by our grandfather; and while 
we did this, I remember, we used to amuse ourselves by 
changing places when we were kneeling down, and there 
were four of us who entirely changed the position from 
which we were in when we first went into the room. I 
think sometimes that the old gentleman noticed the diver- 
sion, but he did not mention it, although quite stern in 
his admonition to the grandchildren for misbehavior, 

15 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

and it is only fair to say that they did misbehave quite a 
considerable part of their time. In fact, the boys of Alle- 
gheny and that neighborhood of what was called Lower 
Allegheny and bore the euphonious title of "bare-foot 
square," were about as mischievous a set of boys as well 
could be produced, but they all grew up into more or less 
pretty good citizens. Among those who lived near, and 
like myself and brothers were a large family of boys, 
were the Olivers, the present Senator George T. Oliver 
being one of them. They started with absolutely noth- 
ing, whereas we were led to believe that we would inherit 
something in the shape of property, and the result was 
that we had to spend our patrimony before we became 
aware of the value of a dollar. The Oliver boys, on the 
contrary, all started in to work from the beginning and 
arose to wealth and position. The elder one, Henry W. 
Oliver, after whom Oliver Avenue is named, and which 
thoroughfare was suggested and made possible by him, 
was connected with many of the most enterprising man- 
ufactories and industries in the city of Pittsburgh and 
surrounding country. 

Our family attended the Associate Reformed Church 
in the southeastern part of the Diamond, and were regu- 
lar pewholders, myself and brothers attending the Sun- 
day school. The Rev. John T. Pressley, a very dignified 
Associate Reformed preacher of the old school, who had 
come to the town from South Carolina, was the pastor. 
He certainly inculcated the Shorter Catechism into those 
who attended the Sunday school. There used to be a 
considerable division between the old and new churches 
over the question of music at the services, the Associate 
Reformed Church believing in vocal music without the 
accompaniment of any instrument or choir. Dr. Press- 
ley was very decided in his opinion in this respect. The 
Psalms were always sung by the congregation and the 
tune raised in the church by Mr. Donaldson or Campbell 
Herron. 

My father died in 1855, when I was scarcely nine 

16 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

years of age. Dr. Pressley officiated at the funeral. It 
was a bleak February day, and I recall among the car- 
riers one stocky man with a heavy black beard and large 
eyeglasses. I was told that this was the lawyer Edward 
M. Stanton, who afterward became so famous in the 
Lincoln cabinet. Father was a graduate at Harvard Col- 
lege in 1833 and practiced law in the city of Pittsburgh, 
his office being with a Mr. Hepburn on Fourth Street. 
His business was mainly in the office, and he seldom 
went into court to try cases. He was of a quiet, studious 
nature and very much inclined to books and reading. He 
was well versed in all classics, and my recollection of his 
teachings to me of Latin and Greek are yet very vivid, 
and while it is over a half-century ago, my remembrance 
of him is bright and clear. He was United States Dis- 
trict Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania 
under John Tyler. I have his commission from this 
President, signed by the latter, in my library to-day. 
After the old homestead was broken up in southern Alle- 
gheny, to where my father's papers had been removed 
after his death, and after the time I was in the United 
States Navy, I found this commission of my father's and 
also the commission of the Hon. Cornelius Darragh. 
The latter was a very prominent Whig politician and 
served in Congress one or two terms. He was a brilliant 
orator and very popular with his party. He came very 
near getting the nomination for Governor, and I have 
been told that it was on account of some conviviality 
prior to the convention that caused his failure to secure 
this prize. He was, I think. Attorney General for Gov- 
ernor Johnston. 

The Darragh family and my father's people were very 
intimate. Peggy Darragh, as she was familiary called, 
the mother of Cornelius, was a fine old lady of the type 
of that day and lived to quite an advanced age, well 
known to all the older Pittsburghers. Her husband was 
a cabinetmaker, I think, and some of his handiwork is 
in the family connections to this day. Mrs. Dr. Rogers, 

17 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

of Pittsburgh, a daughter of Cornelius Darragh, who 
was quiet prominent in social affairs of the old town, 
received the commission of her father from me. She 
was greatly pleased with it and wrote me a very pleas- 
ant letter. Outside of the personal interest in it to her, 
it had the signature of President William Henry Harri- 
son and also that of Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, 
upon it. 

William Robinson, Jr., my grandfather, was a grad- 
uate of Princeton College and a classmate of the Hon. 
Theodore F. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, who was a 
candidate on the ticket with Henry Clay in the 1844 
campaign. Like Clay and Frelinghuysen, he was an old 
line Whig and a strong admirer and advocate of the Ken- 
tucky statesman. After his graduation he studied law 
with James Ross, one of the first United States Senators 
from Pennsylvania and a prominent citizen of Pitts- 
burgh. He did not practice the profession very steadily, 
as he inherited a great deal of land from his father. 
Most of his life he was land poor, and would generally 
pay a bill by deeding a tract of land to his creditors, and 
in this way some of them, by holding it, acquired consid- 
erable wealth. Among these was the Hon. James L. 
Graham, whom many old residents will recall as a 
butcher in the old Allegheny market, and an excellent 
butcher at that, and when behind his stall with his white 
togs on presented a fine address. He, too, went into 
politics and was elected to the Legislature and the State 
Senate, and served for some time as speaker of the lower 
House at Harrisburg. He was distantly related to our 
family. Toward the latter part of my grandfather's life 
the rapid increase of value in land in Allegheny City 
made him very well off, and when he died his entire 
estate was left to his wife, whom he spoke of in his will 
as "the joy of his youth and the comfort and consolation 
of his declining years." After her death the estate was 
divided between his children and grandchildren. 

At the time Aaron Burr organized his project to found 

18 




MARY PARKER ROBINSON 

FOR OVER FIFTY YEARS THE DEVOTED 
WIFE OF WILLIAM ROBINSON, Jr. 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

an empire in Mexico my grandfather was a young man 
full of enterprise and naturally taken with the oppor- 
tunity in a design of this character. The whole bound- 
less West and the Mississippi Valley were scarcely known 
beyond a few points and a trail here or there to Mexico 
or across the plains. Whatever Aaron Burr's idea was, 
he succeeded in enlisting quite a number of young men 
in it, and among them was my ancestor. I have heard 
him talk of Burr and describe his wonderfully fascinat- 
ing characteristics. He was a very fine looking man, 
with a wonderful conversational gift, and a highly edu- 
cated Princetonian, which, of course, appealed to my 
grandfather. The expedition, as the history gives it, did 
not culminate in any more than the arrest of Burr and 
the dissolution of the project. It was one of those inci- 
dents which, like the whisky insurrection at the close of 
the eighteenth century, flared up and flashed in the pan, 
but petered out when the mailed hand of the Federal 
Government, then beginning to exert its original strength 
against those who were infracting its laws or appeared 
to be doing so, closed on it. My grandfather and grand- 
mother had a very happy reunion on the fiftieth anni- 
versary of their marriage, and there were many guests 
from all over the State and neighborhood who came to 
the afifair. Among the distinguished people at the event, 
whom I remember for their fine appearance and from the 
history connected with their marriage and career, were 
Mr. and Mrs. Schenley. As we Pittsburghers all knew, 
she was a school girl when this young British officer ran 
away with her from New York. She was an heiress 
through the inherited landed estates of her father, 
Colonel Croghan, and prospectively very wealthy. The 
elopement created a great deal of excitement in western 
Pennsylvania, and the Legislature was even appealed to 
to try and sever the match, but it proved in the end to be 
a very happy one and the couple lived for a long time in 
London. Mrs. Schenley died only a few years ago. Her 
vast estates covered all portions of Pittsburgh and some 

19 



Ancestry and Early Impressions 

parts of Allegheny. As I remembered him at the wed- 
ding he was a typical bluff old "John Bull" with white 
side whiskers and imposing corporosity. 



20 




WILLIAM ROBINSON, Jr. 

THE FIRST WHITE MALE CHILD BORN 

NORTH AND WEST OF THE 

OHIO RIVER 



CHAPTER II 

OLD PITTSBURGH AND ALLEGHENY TOWN 

I have had playmates, I have had companions, 
In my childhood, in my joyful school-days, 
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces. 

— Charles Lamb. 

The point at the junction of the Allegheny and Mo- 
nongahela Rivers where they join and make the Ohio, 
and which was the site of Fort Duquesne, was perhaps 
in the anti-Revolution and early colony days the most 
strategic point on the Continent. General Braddock, 
with a British force, in 1755 attempted to capture it, and 
would have done so had he taken the advice of Colonel 
Washington and the colonists and fought the French 
and Indians in the same way as they did him ; but he was 
too inbred in the old military ways of his country to de- 
part from them, and with the courage and bravery that 
could have been shown better on another field, fought 
the enemy by companies and platoons until he was forced 
to retreat by the withering fire of the French and Indians 
with their rifles from behind the trees and in ambush. 
He was mortally wounded on the retreat and was buried 
near the site of Uniontown. Only a short time ago the 
United States Government erected a fine monument to 
General Braddock's memory in the city of Uniontown, 
and the English were represented at the dedication by 
officers of the old regiment to which courageous General 
Braddock belonged. I can recall one summer Sunday 
afternoon when my father took me over the old wooden 
bridge at Federal and St. Clair Streets and down Liberty 
Street to the point where the Pennsylvania Railroad was 
excavating for their freight depot terminal. The tim- 
bers of the old wooden fort of the French were being 
dug out, and a number of persons were there seeking 
relics for the purpose of having canes and other me- 
mentos made of the same. I remember my father and 
myself securing a number of pieces of this wood, 

21 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Tozvn 

There is nothing now left of this formidable French 
fortification save the old Colonial Bouquet House, but it 
was built of brick and is now in very good condition, 
owing to the care and attention it receives from the 
Daughters of the Revolution, who have it in charge. 
The fort and surrounding country passed into the hands 
of Great Britain in 1758, when General Forbes and his 
army made their long and tedious march to that point, 
the French retreating down the river with their muni- 
tions and what they could save. There was a tradition 
that some of the guns of the fort were taken with them 
and thrown into the river at or near McKee's Rocks, 
there being a very deep hole in the river at that place. 
After General Forbes took the fort the name was 
changed to Fort Pitt, and the site has ever since borne 
the name of Pittsburgh, after the great British premier 
of that day. Forbes did not complete his miUtary jour- 
ney without some slight reverses, and one especially, 
which was a surprise to the Scotch Highlanders under 
Colonel Grant, at or near the hill upon which the court 
house now stands. This was the last stroke the French 
gave the British crown at this point. The hill, which in 
my boyhood was of considerable eminence, was always 
known as Grant's Hill, and I recall in the address of 
welcome to General U. S. Grant when he came from the 
West through Pittsburgh to assume command of the 
Union Armies in 1864, my grandfather, William Rob- 
inson, received the famous general and alluded to the 
names and their similarity and contrasted the many vic- 
tories of the one with the drubbing that the British 
colonel under Forbes received at Grant's Hill just before 
the evacuation of Fort Duquesne. Latterly the hill 
there has been called "The Hump," but it has almost en- 
tirely disappeared, the city having assumed the task of 
removing it, the engineering part of the work being at- 
tended to by Colonel Thomas A. Symons, who, by the 

22 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Tozvn 

way, married the granddaughter of William Robinson, 
so that the personal episode is not uninteresting. 

Allegheny was little more than a small country town 
with unpaved streets, mud everywhere in the fall and 
winter seasons and dust in the summer, pigs running 
through the streets. The business now done in one 
square in the city of Pittsburgh of to-day is more than 
was done in the whole of Allegheny in those days. The 
borough of Manchester was not incorporated in the town 
until the war period, and only within the last few years 
Allegheny has become a part of greater Pittsburgh, being 
known now as Pittsburgh North Side. Many of the 
citizens, especially the older ones, were opposed to the 
incorporation of the town with the greater city and de- 
sired that it preserve its identity the same as those of 
Manchester wished to keep their borough separate. I 
can recall the borough line in the early fifties, which was 
marked by two wooden posts at the western corner of 
Fulton Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, the latter then 
a lane; possibly some of the older people there will re- 
member these marks. Allegheny and Manchester were 
very primitive places then. 

One of the mental feats we have all at times attempted 
has been to try to see how far back we can carry our 
memory in our own early life. My recollection goes 
back to 1850 and one or two incidents I can recall prior 
to that year. I can recollect a visit made by the Presi- 
dent, General Taylor, to the city in 1849. I think this 
was the year. I could not have been more than three 
years old, and the fact was impressed upon my mind by 
the reason that "Old Rough and Ready" was entertained 
with other dignitaries at my grandfather's residence. 
Many of the most distinguished men of the country then 
coming to the front in the growing West, in going to 
and from the capital and passing through Pittsburgh, 
stopped over at the residence of my grandfather, Wil- 
liam Robinson, and as children we remembered many of 
them very distinctly. Before 1850 our residence was at 

23 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Tozvn 

the present site of the round house and depots of the 
Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railroad, then the 
Ohio and Pennsylvania, and I can recall distinctly the 
construction of the road through our farm. It cut it 
almost diagonally in two. One day there was a fire in 
the residence. There being nobody at home but the 
women folk, the Irish laborers on the railroad track were 
called up to put out the fire. This cutting up of our 
farm and residence by reason of the railroad line necessi- 
tated the sale of the property, and we removed to the 
lower part of Allegheny, taking the first house in "Old 
Colonnade Row," the adjoining house to the residence of 
my grandfather, William Robinson. All old Alle- 
ghenians will remember this row of houses. The second 
story porches were fronted by a line of iron railing in 
which there were animals chasing each other, and it was 
a distinctive mark of the lower part of Federal Street 
near what was then called the "Bridge." There were 
very few houses on Federal Street north of this row, 
and here and there a prominent store. Sam Dyer's 
grocery store will be well remembered; so would Sid- 
don's, although this was later. Mercer & Robinson's 
store was on the upper bank not far from where 
Schwartz's drug store was located. This latter was a 
noted spot. The former firm removed to the location 
opposite the depot. This depot was just above the old 
Pennsylvania canal and was built on the site of the old 
jail or lock-up of the town. When the jail was torn 
down for the erection of the depot we all played as boys 
around the old and certainly very dirty cells where the 
misdemeanants of that day were confined pending hear- 
ings. The city buildings or city authorities removed 
their headquarters to the Upper Diamond as the Ohio 
and Pennsylvania got into operation. Lee Beckham's 
drug store in the middle of the square above Leacock 
Street will be recalled, and was headquarters for many 
of the young blades in society of that day, who made it 
a kind of loafing place; and probably there was more 

24 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Town 

than the usual medicine sold in the rear end of this drug 
store some of that time. Beckham was a Virginian and 
related to the first families of the Old Dominion. At 
the outbreak of the Civil War he was suspected of lean- 
ing to the South, and when Sumter was fired upon and 
when a wave of infuriated patriotism swept over the 
whole country Beckham was called upon, as were other 
citizens, to put "Old Glory" out from their residences. 
Beckham refused to do this, or at least did not do it at 
the time that they called at his house, and during the 
next day or so he departed quietly for Virginia. He 
went into the Confederate Army and I think was killed 
in action. He was a fine looking man — a type of the 
real old Virginia gentleman and business man. The ex- 
pression of "going to" or "being at" Lee Beckham's was 
equivalent to taking a drink or having had one. The 
feeling for local option or prohibition had not then be- 
come quite so acute; in fact, at that time it was not un- 
usual for a man of good standing in the community to 
be seen on Federal Street going and coming to and from 
Pittsburgh perceptibly under the influence of liquor. 

One of the great changes in the old town since those 
early days has been on what was then known as the 
"Commons." This was all the open territory around the 
central part of the city which was made public by the 
terms of the incorporation, and on the east of the west- 
ern "Commons" was the old Western Penitentiary, a fine 
type of building, of those early days, of semi-Gothic 
architecture. I can recall the warden, Major Bingham, 
a rugged specimen of the old official of the times, with 
ruddy cheeks and white hair, as he used to stand on the 
stone steps at the front entrance to the old prison. The 
west "Commons" were used then for political gather- 
ings, parades and drills, mass meetings, and cricket 
matches. Baseball had not then become anything of a 
game, and we played town ball and shinney instead, and 
these latter were very strenuous recreations for the boys. 
The stream running from Butcher's Run meandered 

25 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Town 

through the west "Commons." Many of the best resi- 
dences surrounded the western and southern parts of 
these public grounds. The old colonial residence of the 
Marshalls will be recalled at the foot of Seminary Hill, 
an unsightly eminence in those days crowned by the old 
Presbyterian Theological Seminary, the destruction of 
which by fire one winter's night about 1854 or 1855 is a 
vivid recollection. Of course, since then there have been 
many changes and improvements, the first being the re- 
moval of the Western Penitentiary, which added greatly 
to the extent of public grounds. Then the city took hold 
of it to beautify it and lay it out in walks and lakes, and 
the fine conservatory donated by Mr. Phipps and other 
horticultural improvements, with the growing of the 
trees planted there since the war, have made this part of 
the new town a beautiful spot. Before the exodus of the 
richer class and the multi-millionaires to the east end, 
the fine residential section of the city was around these 
"Commons" of West Allegheny Town — the Joneses, the 
Caldwells, the Olivers, the McCleans, the Woods, the 
Byers, the Wilkins and the Pattons. The eastern "Com- 
mons" was little more than a resort for stray horses, 
cows and pigs, a mud heap in the spring and fall, and 
an eye-sore in the summer time. It was the scene of 
many a fight between the boys of lower and central Alle- 
gheny and those of old "Dutch Town." This portion of 
the old city never received any other name than this when 
I was a boy. 

One of the annual occurrences of early days and up 
until even the last few years were the floods on the Alle- 
gheny River. In the spring there would be an influx of 
rafts coming down from the upper Allegheny. These 
would be tied up along the banks below the old bridge, 
and they were great resorts for boys at that time, who 
used them for swimming quarters until they were torn 
up by the raftsmen and taken to the lumber yard. One 
of the sports that paid as well as amused us boys of that 
period was picking "pavers." The river being low in 

26 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Town 

the summer and its bed being covered with round pav- 
ing stones, which were used by the municipal authorities 
of the old town and set for street purposes, all of us who 
were good swimmers and divers could very easily dig 
enough in the afternoons diving and swimming to give 
us spending money for a week. Another source of rev- 
enue was found in tramping along the line of the Ohio 
and Pennsylvania Railroad, the iron rails of those days 
splitting off and the cars and engines breaking pieces of 
iron, which were gathered or broken off the rails. There 
was no law against trespassing on the tracks. This iron 
we sold at old junk shops and divided the money. 

Nearly every prominent citizen who did business in 
Pittsburgh and lived in Allegheny town passed by our 
residence on lower Federal Street twice a day, and they 
all became familiar personages to us. One such was 
Coloney Harvey Bollman. He wore an enormous seal 
ring, carried a fine gold cane, tied his beard in a knot, 
and more than once on his way back toward night would 
find himself pretty well tied in a knot caused not by the 
beard but by something that was imbibed over it. All 
will remember Gray, "the tailor." He was a fine looking 
man, six feet tall, elegant address and manner, and of 
course wore the best of clothes. He lived in Colonnade 
Row; so did Howard, the paper manufacturer, who had 
his mills in Manchester. These latter were burned down 
almost every year, he seeming to have exceedingly hard 
luck in this direction. Colonel Milner Roberts also lived 
in this row, and Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell and sons and 
daughters. The boys were all prominent business men, 
the girls intermarried with the leading people of the 
town. Nellie, the youngest and prettiest, married Dave 
Smith, and lived on the northwestern "Commons" for 
several years. Letitia married a Mr. Holmes, a wealthy 
gentleman, and I think her descendants are still residing 
in the city. Mr. Caldwell died and was buried from his 
residence in this row, and I remember very well as a boy 
carrying in the chairs to their house next door, it being 

27 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Tozvn 

a common thing at that time to borrow from your neigh- 
bors chairs to make up the seating capacity for those 
who attended a large funeral such as this was, as he was 
a very prominent man. 

Among many others of the daily throng that went to 
and fro over the old bridge were Tom Marshall, the 
lawyer, "Glorious Tom," as he was called, and Felix 
Brunot, who lived on the corner of the east "Commons" 
and the upper bank. He was a remarkably striking per- 
sonage and could not pass a stranger without attracting 
attention. He was famous in all philanthropic work, and 
I think served on the Indian Commission under General 
Grant. He was also a delegate to the convention that 
formed the present Constitution of the State in 1872. 
Dr. Bachop, a dentist, lived opposite Colonnade Row. 
He was a good dentist, but did not get along very well in 
his family relations, as we often used to see him run- 
ning out of the house and his wife chasing him with 
some implement or other. After the domestic war was 
over he would go back and resume his work at the chair. 
Lewis Bradley, a school teacher, kept an academy at the 
southeast corner of Federal and Robinson Streets. He 
was very proficient in his line, and many of the boys 
who afterward turned out to be noted men were edu- 
cated by him, and a number of them were prominent in 
the Civil War. "Dick" Dale, the son of Dr. Thomas F. 
Dale, our family physician, and a noted member of his 
profession, lost his life in the Wilderness, and his body 
never was recovered. It was supposed to have been 
burned in the brush set fire to by the gun fire. My oldest 
brother, who also attended at this school, helped to raise 
a company of First Ward boys at the old town and en- 
gine house in the "Diamond," and was taken prisoner 
at Fair Oaks, being then a corporal in the Sixty-first 
Pennsylvania Volunteers. After his release from Salis- 
bury prison in North Carolina, and Libby Prison, where 
he served for several months, he received a commission 
from Governor Curtin in the same regiment, and was 

28 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Tozvn 

captain of Company D when Grant started for his last 
effort against Richmond, in May, 1864. On the 6th of 
that month he was killed in the Wilderness. The late 
Colonel Green, of the same regiment, and Prothonotary 
of the Supreme Court in Philadelphia for many years, 
told me that he was close to my brother when he was 
shot, and he would not have been struck had he lain 
down as he commanded his men to do, but was walking 
up and down in front of his command when struck by 
a grape shot. He was carried to the hospital in the rear 
and lived for about an hour after he was wounded. 
James Patton was a grocer, and had one of the largest 
stores on Upper Federal Street. His son, Harry Patton, 
many Pittsburghers will recall, and his daughter mar- 
ried James A. Chambers, the prominent glass manufac- 
turer, now a member of the New York and Lake Erie 
Canal Commission. 

All famous parades and celebrations went over the 
route on Federal Street either going or returning from 
Upper Allegheny. I remember a ludicrous incident 
which occurred to Colonel R. Biddle Roberts, afterward 
the head of the First Pennsylvania Reserves and then 
District Attorney of the county, I believe, who com- 
manded the Duquesne Grays. This was the crack mili- 
tary company of the two towns. Annually they had a 
swell parade, and in their spick and span clothes, with 
burnished muskets and Roberts at their head, and the 
best band in town and drum major flourishing his baton, 
were going down Federal Street on one of these events 
in the fifties, as I said, when a large pig, bewildered with 
the music and the crowds, ran out of an alley to cross 
the street and struck the company just behind Colonel 
Roberts. It went diagonally through the whole three or 
four platoons and created more consternation than if a 
battery of the rapid-fire guns of to-day had been playing 
upon it. The whole multitude lining the streets to view 
the parade were in an uproar of laughter, and it took 
some time for Colonel Roberts to reform his command 

29 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Town 

and get them under way again to cross the old bridge. 
The pig disappeared in one of the side alleys of the oppo- 
site side of the street. It should have had the order of 
the Iron Cross or some other decoration suited for swine 
that could make such a famous attack. John F. Jen- 
nings, who lived on West Robinson Street, was a promi- 
nent citizen of the old town, and took a great part in get- 
ting the soldiers to the front in the early sixties and 
attended to those who were wounded or invalided at 
home. He had three sons — Benjamin, William, and 
Dale, the latter named after Dr. Dale. These boys, with 
the Olivers and the Grays, James Webster and Clinton, 
with the Howard boys, Tom and Levi, were my play- 
mates, and for years we were daily companions and in 
all the mischief and tricks of the old town. We had 
great fun when "Johnny Triangle" would come into 
the neighborhood or old Dr. Stevenson or Pat Murphy, 
three of the noted cranks of those days. Our usual 
haunt in the summer was the river, where we went in 
swimming on the rafts, and in winter enjoyed skating on 
the old Pennsylvania Canal. The bed of this canal and 
the basin down by the Kennedy Flour Mills all reverted 
to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company after the line was 
connected with the Ohio and Pennsylvania. 

On lower Western Avenue there were many fine resi- 
dences of the best people of the town, among them the 
Bagaleys. He was a prominent wholesale grocer, and 
his wife was the leader of fashion and society for many 
years prior to the war. Annually she gave a large mask 
ball and all the prominent people and highbrows of that 
day attended in costume. I remember one of my uncles 
— Frank, a very handsome man — going to one of these 
affairs as Don Caesar De Bazan, and he certainly looked 
the part. His sister, Mary, the youngest of my grand- 
father William Robinson's children, who afterward mar- 
ried William H. Shoenberger, of Cincinnati, attended 
this ball as Ceres, and made a beautiful appearance. Ad- 
joining the Bagaleys' residence was that of Mr. Brewer, 

30 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Town 

a very handsome place, always laid out in parterres of 
splendid flowers in season ; also the Logan residence and 
that of Byron Painter. This latter residence was a fine 
stone structure of later date. 

The Painters were a prominent family, the head of 
which, Jacob, came to Pittsburgh in early days and en- 
gaged in the iron business. The descendants of this man 
are noted to this day in the business of the city. A. E. 
W. Painter, or Gus Painter, as he was called, was the 
head of the firm in latter days and with his brother be- 
came quite wealthy. He married a beautiful woman 
from Troy, New York, whose maiden name was Blair, I 
think, and they were a very distinguished looking couple. 
Their residence, as were those of the Rev. Dr. Pressley 
and the Husseys and those of a number of other people 
of wealth and distinction, was on the upper bank of the 
canal on the east side of the East Diamond. It was a 
part of the residential portion of old Allegheny town. 
All of this is very much changed and the bed of the canal 
is now occupied by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chi- 
cago Railroad. 

I spoke of the Hon. Thomas M. Howe. He was a 
man who took the foremost position in civic affairs in 
early days prior to the war and lived on the upper bank, 
as it was called, east of Federal Street, where there were 
a number of fine residences — that of John Dean, the 
foremost dry goods merchant, who I think started his 
business in the town with selling from his pack; James 
Marshall; the Tiernains, prominent in the Roman Cath- 
olic Church, old Mrs. Tiernain being very devoted in her 
work for this church. She had a fine aviary, and as 
boys we were always very glad to get a sight of it and 
see the birds flying around in the large cage or room she 
had provided for them. Her sons were all well-known 
townsmen, and John lived until a few years ago ; every- 
body almost in the two towns knew him. Their old 
homestead is still standing. There was also the resi- 
dence of John Morrison, ex-Mayor of Allegheny. 

31 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Toivn 

Thomas Howe's residence was next to this. Then there 
was that of Dr. Dale and the Kramers, of the banking 
firm of Kramer & Rahm. The Allegheny Hospital oc- 
cupies a portion of the site of this old residence. The 
Second Reformed Church was on this upper bank, and in 
early days this was presided over by Dr. Rogers, who 
often exchanged pulpits with our pastor. Dr. Pressky. 
Rogers was a Scotch divine of the old school and deliv- 
ered his prayers and sermons in the broadest kind of 
dialect. Both he and Pressley were pious and devout to 
the last degree. I remember a story told of Dr. Rogers. 
His daughter, who had not inherited such a strong 
Scotch tongue, was somewhat irritated at her father's 
pronunciation of some words, and offered one day at the 
table to correct the old gentleman for his use of the word 
"difference." The doctor called it "dufference," and 
the daughter said to him, "Father, why do you not say 
difference and not dufference?" The old divine, a little 
miffed perhaps, said, "Hut, tut, lassie, what's the duffer- 
ence between dufference and dufference?" Notwith- 
standing their peculiarities, these preachers of the old 
school were all faithful to their tasks and went about 
their daily avocation doing nothing but good. The Rev. 
John B. Clark succeeded Dr. Rogers and was not only a 
preacher but a soldier, and raised a nine months' regi- 
ment of the best blood of the town which went to the 
front during the middle of the war. Many of these fine 
fellows never came back. Some sleep in Southern prison 
holes, where they died, others on the bloody battlefields 
of the war, and many of them were brought back by 
their families and buried in either the Allegheny or 
Mount Union Cemetery. Mr. Howe's daughter, Mary, 
who married James Childs, of the noted shoe firm of 
Childs & Son, was an intimate companion of my aunt 
Mary, and the latter was her bridesmaid at her wedding. 
Her husband, James Childs, was killed at the head of his 
regiment of cavalry at the battle of Antietam. Among 
the other daughters of Hon. Thomas M. Howe, one mar- 

32 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Tozvn 

ried the late Hon. James W. Brown, the manufacturer 
and well-known citizen who a short time ago served a 
term in Congress. Jim Brown, as I always knew him, 
was a classmate of mine at Professor Smith's school. 
Another daughter intermarried with the Hon. George 
W. Guthrie. The latter is at present United States Min- 
ister to the Empire of Japan, and is one of the most 
prominent lawyers and public men of the State. He was 
a strong advocate of the nomination of President Wil- 
son and a reorganizer of the Democratic party as it is 
controlled to-day in the State. 

Allegheny was incorporated in 1840 into a city, and 
William Robinson was the first Mayor, and my father, 
William O'Hara Robinson, the first solicitor of the city. 
Manchester was always a pretty little adjunct to Alle- 
gheny, and a number of prominent citizens lived in that 
borough, it being more rural. One of the foremost citi- 
zens of old Manchester was Judge John E. Parke, whom 
all the older persons remember. The last few years of 
his life he devoted to publishing a book which gave con- 
siderable history about the old place and people. Squire 
Sampson was a well-known resident of Manchester and 
had a beautiful place; so also were the Halls, manufac- 
turers, who made a great deal of material for the quasi 
war with the Mormons in 1858, when General Albert 
Sidney Johnston was sent on an expedition to punish 
them for the Mountain Meadow massacre. Colonel 
Anderson had a fine place adjoining the residence of my 
mother's father, Samuel Robinson, and was quite a 
learned and interesting character. He had a fine library, 
and Andrew Carnegie mentions him with great praise 
for his kindness in allowing the young men at that time 
the facilities of the books. 

There was in the lower part of Manchester a summer 
garden and park, in which there was a labyrinth built of 
shrubbery, and as boys it was one of our interesting trips 
to go to this building and see the many beautiful things 
around there, as it was kept in fine condition horticultu- 

33 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Toivn 

rally and the labyrinth afforded us amusement and pleas- 
ure. In the lower part of the borough there was a 
place where we used to go to have picnics, called Sugar 
Grove or Sugar Camp, where there were a number of 
sugar maple trees, and in the spring when the sap was 
running it was our habit to visit this place and collect 
the material for making maple sugar and syrup. Still 
further down near Wood's Run was a famous hotel kept 
by a German-American called Hartman. He had a fine 
arbor and grapery connected with his garden and made 
quantities of good grape juice, such as would have 
tickled the palate of our former Secretary of State, Wil- 
liam Jennings Bryan, On the bank of the Ohio River, 
south of this and opposite McKee's Rocks, was the old 
House of Refuge, afterward the Riverside Penitentiary. 
Besides the Manchester people I have mentioned there 
were the Townsends, who lived on Pennsylvania Avenue, 
the Motherals, the Updikes, and the Phelps. The fa- 
mous authoress, Margaret Deland, spent her early life, I 
think, in Manchester. All of this part of Allegheny City 
now has entirely changed with the growth and progress 
of the greater city of Pittsburgh, spreading out far back 
from the hills to the north and west, where when a boy 
I could go out and take a muzzle-loading single-barrel 
shotgun and kill all the pheasants, partridges, gray squir- 
rels and other game one desired in a day's hunt. The 
outlying wards now extend far back, and many country 
residences are located on the beautiful new highway 
built to Sewickley and beyond. George W. Cass, who 
succeeded my grandfather in the presidency of the Ohio 
and Pennsylvania Railroad, lived in Sewickley, as did 
Deacon White and Dr. Thomas Dickson, a famous doc- 
tor, and other prominent citizens. Hayesville, a small 
place this side of Sewickley, was quite a summer resort 
in the early fifties, and our family spent several sum- 
mers at that place, the hotel being kept in the best man- 

34 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Tozun 

ner by Colonel Hayes, after whom the place was named. 
He had a number of interesting sons and daughters. 

Speaking of Hartman's Hotel at Wood's Run, this 
was a great place for outings in the early days and what 
people now call in this automobile age "joy rides," by 
sleighs in winter and good teams in summer over hor- 
rible plank roads. There were two other quite well- 
known and very liberal hostelries; one was Keating' s, 
about ten miles out on the old Perryville plank road, and 
Beitler's, at East Liberty. Many of the older Pitts- 
burghers will remember with pleasure the parties and the 
chicken and waffles and other dainties of the table which 
were served at these admirable taverns in their early 
days. I think they have all passed away with the marks 
of time, but beyoqd a regard of them as it remains in the 
memory of a few of us there is no vestige left of these 
famous inns for the entertainment of man and beast. 

In the early days of the present century, at one corner 
of the Pittsburgh Diamond stood the tavern of John 
Seetin; not far away was the Black Bear Tavern, kept 
by George McGonigle. Taverns were a rule in the early 
days. The famous Green Tree Tavern stood on Water 
Street. The genial Boniface was Major Tannehill, a 
Revolutionary soldier. On Fifth Street, adjoining Dr. 
Holmes' residence and close to the Diamond, stood the 
old Iron City Hotel, a later day structure. 

McKee & Graham's hat store faced the old market and 
court house. John Graham's partner in this house was 
one of the early presidents of the Bank of Pittsburgh. 
Matthew Dalzell's green and dry grocery stood on the 
corner of Diamond Alley, up and down which narrow 
thoroughfare and around the square rose and fell such 
business as the growing town afforded. For a long time 
but one barber, Pratt by name, was known to the town 
of our ancestors, and he was on full equality with all the 
other burghers. At Seetin's, at George Beale's on Third 
Street, and at Molly Murphy's still earlier — she was the 
relict of one Paddy Murphy, the first in all probability to 

35 



Old Pittsburgh and Allegheny Town 

sell rum west of the mountains — the young bucks of the 
early settlement had their bouts. Here they would play 
old sledge — the great American game was then unknown 
— get staving full and pass the social and political gos- 
sip of the days of postchaises, of couriers, and of mail 
coaches and canal boats. 



36 



CHAPTER III 

SCHOOL DAYS AND OLD TEACHERS 

Let the soldier be abroad if he will, he can do nothing 
in this age. There is another personage, a personage 
less imposing in the eyes of some, perhaps insignificant. 
The schoolmaster is abroad, and I trust to him, armed 
with his primer, against the soldier in full military array. 
— Lord Brougham. 

Our school days are always a very interesting portion 
of our life experience, and now, when there is a school 
teacher at the head of the Republic and also a distin- 
guished one at the helm of the Government in this State 
of Pennsylvania, there seems to be much more of in- 
terest in the profession than formerly. My earliest recol- 
lection of schooling was attendance at the Academy con- 
ducted by two maiden ladies, the Misses Creighton, both 
excellent teachers in primary work. None of the 
scholars at this school could have been more than from 
six to ten years of age, and we were an interesting 
colony. The school was located in the basement of the 
old First Associate Reformed Church of Allegheny, in 
the East Diamond, and part of the time in a building in 
the North Diamond. Of course, as we grew older we 
passed from this primary education to a more extended 
curriculum. I had a number of teachers, but of them 
all, I recall with the greatest pleasure and with a knowl- 
edge that he did more to impart education to me than 
any other teacher that I had, William H. Wakeham — 
"Billie" Wakeham, as we called him. He was an Eng- 
lishman by birth and came from Devonshire, near Ports- 
mouth, His brother was, I think, the first superintendent 
of the schools of Allegheny town. The very best young 
men of the town attended this school prior to the war 
and during the early days of that portentous struggle. 
The school was in the basement of Dr. Crumpton's Epis- 
copal Church on the east "Commons." Wakeham had a 

Z7 



School Days and Old Teachers 

manner of imparting knowledge that was peculiar to 
himself and ingratiated himself into the good will of 
all his scholars. While he was stern and sometimes se- 
vere with those who were very mischievous or really bad, 
his methods were such that he succeeded in bringing the 
most recalcitrant of the scholars to his way of thinking. 
He was an admirable story teller, and his reminiscences 
of early days and life around Devonshire, England, were 
very much relished by the scholars, and sometimes long 
after school hours had expired in the afternoon he would 
entertain us with incidents of his boyhood days on the 
other side. He was a good Latin and Greek scholar and 
finely versed in all English letters. 

Among the boys most prominent who attended at the 
same time as myself were the Irwin boys. Jack and Wil- 
liam, who lived on the west "Commons." Jack was a 
musician, and would sooner play the violin than eat his 
meals or study his lessons, but as Mr. Wakeham was also 
fond of music, he overlooked Jack in this direction. 
These two boys were famous cricket players, as was 
Harry Bughman and others who lived near the west 
"Commons." The Irwins appeared in all the amateur 
matches of that day. The Morganstern brothers, promi- 
nent Hebrew boys, whose father for many years kept a 
large clothing store on Wood Street and Fifth Avenue, 
were attendants and among the brightest of the scholars. 
Gardiner McCandless, who was afterward secretary for 
a number of years for Andrew Carnegie, went to this 
school ; so did the Jennings boys and the Grays. The 
annual exercises at the commencement time at the close 
of the term were always very interesting and attended 
by the parents and relatives of the boys of the school. 
Wakeham would take part in all the active plays and 
physical exercises of the boys, and had a fine gymnasium 
attached to the academy. At the outbreak of the Civil 
War he formed the school into a military company and 
put us through the drills of that day, so that many of 
us were ready a year or two afterward to go to the front, 

38 



School Days and Old Teachers 

as quite a number of the boys of this school did. Some 
of them never returned. The Lewis Bradley of whom 
I spoke in the previous chapter was more noted as a 
scientific teacher than any of those of that time. When 
the observatory was first erected, through the generosity 
of Mr. William Thaw, the father, by the way, of the 
noted Harry Kendall Thaw, Bradley was appointed the 
head of the institution and did a great deal of very valu- 
able astronomical work while there. Prior to his work 
at this institution he had been an amateur astronomer 
and had become noted over the country and beyond by 
reason of his work in that direction. 

After my tuition at the Wakeham School I attended 
for a short time the Western University, which was then 
located near the present court house in Pittsburgh. 
Many of the most prominent men of Pittsburgh and the 
surrounding country were educated at this institution 
and graduated there. Another noted school was that of 
Professor Smith, whose place of instruction was oppo- 
site the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Pittsburgh. 
Most of the attendants at this school were Pittsburghers. 
The late John B. Jackson, president of the Fidelity Trust 
Company, was one of the boys who went to school there 
with me, and the Hon. Alexander G. Cochran, now the 
head counsel for the Gould Railroad Company in St. 
Louis. The latter had a very fine mind and was an ex- 
cellent debater. I remember, just prior to the outbreak 
of the war, when the slavery question was rampant, of a 
debate on this subject, where Cochran took the pro- 
slavery side, he being of Democratic persuasion, and I 
the anti-slavery side. I might have had the best of the 
subject, but I hardly thought I had the best of the argu- 
ment against such a brilliant and able debater and scholar 
as Cochran then was. Leonard, the son of a big lumber- 
man, also attended there. Of the few who came from 
Allegheny town with myself to attend was Jimmie Little, 
who was in the Sixty-first Pennsylvania Volunteers and 

39 



School Days and Old Teachers 

was killed at Fisher's Hill, in the Shenandoah Valley, 
about the close of the war. 

Smith was a very stern and strict instructor. He had 
a way of catching you with one hand and swatting you 
with a ruler in the other that certainly made you tingle 
all over for quite a while. I never got this application 
but once, and then I did not deserve it. I was sitting in 
part of the room where the whispering which was going 
on, and not permitted, appeared to come from me, and 
the professor, who had once called us down for this, was 
very angry, and before I could explain or give my side 
of the question he had caught me and administered the 
ruler correction. Sometime afterward I explained it 
to him and he was very profuse in his apologies for his 
mistake. I forgave him because of the fact that he cer- 
tainly was the best of the Latin scholars that instructed 
me, and imparted more information in the classics than 
any of the teachers to whom I had gone. Billie Wake- 
ham gave me whatever foundation I might have had to 
upbuild any capacity I have to write English to-day, and 
I am sometimes given credit for being pretty fair at put- 
ting my thoughts on white paper. Those days we 
thought nothing of walking a mile or a mile and a half 
to school, and at no time did I go to any of the teachers 
mentioned whose school room was less than a mile from 
where we lived. Wakeham, although not, I believe, a 
naturalized citizen, took a great interest in the politics 
of the days before the Civil War, and at the outbreak of 
it he took such of the scholars as desired to go to meet- 
ings and other public assemblies where we could hear 
some of the big guns of the day discuss the questions 
that were at issue; and the slavery question at that time 
being very acute, the meetings were always very interest- 
ing, and it gave us an early insight into politics that we 
could not otherwise have had, as he always explained the 
next day and questioned us about matters that had been 
discussed the day or night before. 

In 1860, in the big campaign which elected Andrew G. 

40 



School Days and Old Teachers 

Curtin Governor of this State in October and Abraham 
Lincoln President in November, there was a mass meet- 
ing of the Republicans on the west "Commons." There 
must have been twenty thousand people there, and among 
those who spoke was the candidate for Governor, Curtin. 
I had a position not far away from him, owing to a rela- 
tive of mine taking me near the platform. He was a 
splendid specimen of manhood at that time, at least six 
feet tall, as straight as an arrow, slim and wiry, and with 
a piercing eye that seemed to flash fire, and in his bril- 
liant speech he denounced the slavocrats of the South. 
His voice was as fine toned as a silver flute, and persons 
said that he could be heard at the outer rim of the vast 
crowd. My earliest experience in politics was in the 
parade in 1856, when John C. Fremont was a candidate 
for President. I was only ten years old then, and many 
boys paraded with the older citizens of the Republican 
party, and we wore red, white and blue sashes. The 
slogan of that year was "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free 
Men, and Fremont." 

I had a very useful experience while attending the 
Western University. The old court house was near the 
building. During the recess hour and the noon hour, as 
I did not go home on account of living on the other side 
of the river, I would spend a good deal of my time over 
in the court room listening to the lawyers discussing 
cases before the juries. I remember many of the bril- 
liant and eloquent lawyers of that period pleading in 
criminal and civil cases — Tom Marshall, Hill Burgwin, 
Bradford Todd, Judge Fetterman, Marshall Swartz- 
welder and others. The information and knowledge I 
gleaned in the attendance at these trials were more useful 
to me than the schooling at the University, as I took a 
special course in the classics in Latin and Greek, which 
were my principal studies. While very useful to me in 
my literary and newspaper work, they were of no ac- 
count to me during my naval service, nor at the United 
States Naval Academy. 

41 



School Days and Old Teachers 

I believe all these teachers and lawyers I have men- 
tioned have passed away, but my knowledge of them 
and acquaintance enabled me to write an article for the 
centennial number of the Pittsburgh Gazette, which was 
well received by the old Bar of Allegheny County. This 
number was issued in 1885. The Gazette was founded 
in 1785 by a man named Scull, who came from Somerset 
County. This paper was in our family from my earliest 
recollection and I believe that the Gazette and its suc- 
cessor, now the Pittsburgh Gazette-Times, has had the 
name of our family on its list of subscribers longer than 
any other in or around Pittsburgh. It is now owned by 
the Oliver family, the present junior Senator and his son, 
and is one of the very ablest papers of the Republican 
stripe west of the Allegheny Mountains. 

During the war times I spent a portion of my life in 
attending the drills of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania 
Militia, an emergency regiment that performed home 
service, and there was hardly a day or a week that we 
did not have to turn out to attend a funeral of some 
prominent officer killed in action. In 1862 the regiment 
went down to Harrisburg, and thence to Greencastle, on 
the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. At the 
time of the battle of Antietam it was drawn up in line in 
that town, and all who wished to go over the line were 
requested to step up and say so. I noticed that the 
younger members of the regiment seemed all very 
prompt in marching to the front, but the older and gray- 
headed ones remained stationary. Under the terms of 
the enlistment a regiment could not be ordered outside 
of the State. 

In 1863, when Lee came into Pennsylvania and Get- 
tysburg was fought, we were in camp nearly all that 
summer in the East End. The encampment was named 
after Hon. Thomas M. Howe, who owned a great deal 
of property out where the regiment was. It was in a 
beautiful grove and field where now are all the many 
residential places of the well-to-do people of the city. 

42 



School Days and Old Teachers 

East Liberty was but a small borough and few houses at 
the time of the battle of Gettysburg. There was con- 
siderable consternation in the State, and old men and 
boys were sent out to the outlying hills to throw up 
fortifications. I remember acting as a guard on Her- 
ron's Hill. There were some vestiges of these earth- 
works on that hill remaining the last time I was in Pitts- 
burgh. Our company was commanded by Captam 
Riddle, of Allegheny, and the colonel was a well-known 
citizen named Galway. While we were in Camp Howe, 
in the summer of 1863, the Confederate cavalryman, 
General Morgan, made his celebrated raid from Ken- 
tucky into the Northern States, and crossed through 
Ohio and was captured at or near Salineville. Some of 
the troops that were in camp at that time with us were 
sent to assist in this skirmish to stop this noted raider. 

To revert to schooldays, among other young men who 
attended Professor Smith's institution with me were 
James W. Brown and his brother, William Brown, Alex- 
ander and Tom Johnston, sons of Governor Johnston, 
and William Bissell. The latter went to New England 
after he left the school and only revisited the old town 
at certain times where his property was located. Jim 
Wade, whose mother was quite a celebrated philanthro- 
pist and school worker, was a student there, and also 
went to New England and, if I am correct in my facts, 
became prominent in politics in the Old Bay State and 
was Speaker of the House of Representatives there. 
After Lee left Pennsylvania and Gettysburg sealed the 
fate of the Confederate Army, there was a much better 
feeling throughout the Commonwealth. The excitement 
and scare that had been aroused by his entrance and the 
actions prior to Gettysburg threw the people of the whole 
State into a great fright. Many of the wealthier people 
of Pittsburgh and those institutions which had large 
assets were said to have secreted them or sent them to 
Canada. I got leave to quit camp the latter part of Au- 
gust, and in September, with Robert Stewart Morrison, 

43 



School Days and Old Teachers 

a playmate of mine and son of ex-Mayor John Morrison, 
of Allegheny town, went for a special term to Amherst 
College, Massachusetts. This was a very pleasant part 
of my boyhood career. Amherst was a distinctive insti- 
tution and presided over by the celebrated educationalist, 
Julius H. Seelye, who succeeded the noted Dr. Hitch- 
cock, whose work upon the geological footprints of the 
antediluvian animals and sea monsters made his name 
known all over the world. Professor Moses Tyler, the 
great Greek student and author, was one of the profes- 
sors, also Professor Hitchcock, the son of the ex-presi- 
dent. Professor Montague was at the head of the de- 
partment of French and belles-lettres. We spent a very 
pleasant year at this institution, taking a special course 
in French and German and in English letters. We were 
not connected with any class, but subject to the rules and 
regulations of the college. Its fame, like that of Dart- 
mouth, Harvard, Yale and others, was long established. 
The great preacher, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, was 
a graduate of this college. The venerable buildings are 
on quite an eminence overlooking the Connecticut Val- 
ley to the west, with the Connecticut River flowing like 
a silver streak through the passes, with Mount Tom and 
Holyoke on the west side, making a beautiful landscape. 
The town of Northampton was visible in the distance 
some ten or twelve miles away. Amherst was a typical 
New England town, nearly all the houses being of frame, 
white in color with green shutters, and broad streets 
shaded by ancient elms. I boarded with my chum at the 
home of two old maiden ladies, whose names I cannot 
recall, but they certainly had the real Yankee character- 
istics, and the only oasis on the desert of their austere 
and economical regulations as to meals and outgoings 
and incomings was a visit occasionally of a very pretty 
niece of theirs from Boston. In fact, as I remember it 
now, Morrison, my chum, and myself were both very 
deeply smitten with the beauty of this young Bostonian ; 
but of course we were school boys with very little pros- 

44 



School Days and Old Teachers 

pects ahead, and there was nothing doing but the usual 
college flirtation. 

In the winter of 1863 and 1864, during the vacation 
allotted by the college, in company with Morrison I se- 
cured a commission from John G. Holland, the cele- 
brated author and publisher of Springfield, Massachu- 
setts, to go into New York State and take subscriptions 
for the sale of albums. These books for the preservation 
of photographs had just lately become the vogue, I pre- 
sume on account of the death of so many people in the 
war and the desire to have copies of those friends and 
relatives who had enlisted. The necessity brought forth 
the books. We each had a pack of three different sized 
specimen albums, a large, a medium and a small one. 
We went to Montgomery County, New York State, and 
covered all the territory in that county and Fulton and 
some of the adjoining neighborhood. The albums sold 
well and we took many subscriptions that more than 
paid our expenses. The orders were sent in as fast as we 
could secure a sufficient number of names. In one large 
mill that I went into at Gloversville I was nearly all day 
taking subscriptions from the young women and fore- 
ladies and the men in charge, who were anxious to secure 
our goods. The country over which we tramped (as 
there were no conveyances that would have suited us, 
nor could we have afforded them if there had been) was 
most interesting, as much of this Mohawk Valley region 
near Fonda, Amsterdam and Johnstown was historical 
ground, and in our leisure moments after the day's work 
was done we would study up the colonial and pre-revo- 
lutionary history of this neighborhood. This sojourn at 
Amherst was a great benefit to me, as I got a good 
grounding of French and German the year I was there. 

In the spring of 1864, shortly after Grant started for 
the Wilderness, I was called home by notice that my 
older brother. Captain William O'Hara Robinson, had 
been killed in the Wilderness. I returned by way of the 
New York Central and Cleveland to Pittsburgh, and all 

45 



School Days and Old Teachers 

along the line where we stopped, and the stops were more 
frequent in those days than in these of fast fliers and 
cannon ball expresses, from bulletin boards and from 
boys shouting the paper would be published lists of the 
killed and wounded in the bloody struggle that Grant 
kept up on his way to Appomattox. When I arrived 
home the death of my brother had been confirmed by a 
second brother, James, who was also at the front and 
who arrived at my brother's grave after his interment in 
time to mark it, having gotten leave from his regiment 
to do so. I made up my mind that I would enlist my- 
self, not knowing the danger as well then as I would 
now. It was the effort I made to carry out this project 
to go to the front that secured my entrance to the Naval 
Academy. But this is another story and will be told in 
the next chapter. 



46 




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CHAPTER IV 

APPOINTMENT TO UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY 

Uncle Sam's webfoot. — Abraham Lincoln. 

In May, 1864, enlistments to the army had grown 
somewhat slack. The patriotism that was rampant in 
the early days of the great struggle for the integrity of 
the Union had waned, bounties as high as fifteen hun- 
dred and two thousand dollars and even greater sums 
were offered for recruits, and large sums for substitutes 
under the drafts. Afterward the reports of Grant's 
progress toward Richmond and the terrible loss of life 
caused a temporary increase in the number of enlist- 
ments. Without consulting anybody I went to the "Dia- 
mond," which was a public square in the center of Alle- 
gheny town, where the municipal buildings are now lo- 
cated and where the old town hall and engine house and 
old market house were then, and took the necessary 
steps for enrolling myself at one of the recruiting offices. 
But this was as far as I got, for the next day my 
mother, grieved beyond expression by the loss of her old- 
est son on the 6th of May, and not knowing what day she 
might hear of the loss of her second son, as he was in 
one of the provisional regiments with Grant, went to my 
grandfather, William Robinson, who called me to task 
for attempting to enlist without his permission or my 
mother's. I told him I had fully determined to go to 
the front, and if I could not go there I would go some- 
where else. He said to "wait a while," and in a few 
days he thought something could be done to obviate the 
necessity of my going into the army. Fortunately for 
me, but very much against my wishes at that time, in a 
few days the Hon. Thomas Williams, the then member 
of Congress from that district of Allegheny, was at my 
grandfather's residence, and in the course of the con- 
versation told him that there was a vacancy in his ap- 
pointments to the United States Naval Academy. As he 

47 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

was my grandfather's attorney and a very prominent 
man, not only in legal but in national affairs, being after- 
ward one of the managers on the part of the House of 
Representatives for the prosecution of President Andrew 
Johnson after his impeachment, it was an easy matter for 
me to secure the appointment desired by my grandfather. 
I was notified and told to come to one of the recruiting 
offices near Sam Dyer's store. The next day I went 
there with my grandfather and met Congressman Wil- 
liams, who asked me if I would like to go to the Academy 
and into the navy, and I told him I did not care to do so, 
that I preferred to go to the army, but if my mother and 
other relatives desired it I would accept the appointment. 
He told me that several of his appointments prior to that 
at both the Naval Academy and West Point had failed to 
pass the examination or to graduate, and that he was a 
little chagrined at the outcome. I said that I would do 
my best to reflect credit upon him and upon his appoint- 
ment. He said he would notify me and in a short time 
the department would send me the necessary papers in 
the matter. 

I remember the Congressman very well. He seemed to 
me to be a very big man in my estimation at that time, 
never dreaming that in a quarter of a century I would be 
in the House of Representatives at Washington myself. 
Tom Williams, as he was familiarly called in the district, 
was widely known all over the State and nationally. He 
was a very able lawyer, and it is said by those who were 
judges of the affair that his argument in the impeach- 
ment trial was one of the best, if not the best, legal and 
constitutional presentations of the case against the im- 
peached President. Williams served, I think, in the Leg- 
islature at Harrisburg prior to his career at Washington. 
His predecessor in Congress from the Allegheny district 
was the Hon. Robert McKnight. McKnight won the 
nomination in 1858 over my grandfather, William Robin- 
son, in a heated contest. He intermarried with one of 
the Dennys, who had large land holdings in the town, 

48 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

and I believe that he was president, at the time of the 
campaign, of one of the branches of Council. The Wil- 
liamses lived on the Upper Bank, West Side, in a house 
adjoining where the Yeagers lived. The latter was a 
prominent merchant of Pittsburgh in novelties, toys and 
fancy goods. Quite a number of old residents lived on 
this as well as upon the other bank, as previously men- 
tioned. The old Bell homestead will be remembered for 
its quaintness. There was the Miltonberger home, one 
of whom — Mary — married my uncle, Francis P. Robin- 
son. Then there were the Stocktons and the Hartmans. 
Thomas Williams married a Pemberton, a relative of 
the general of that name in the Confederate Army, who 
was in command of the forces at Vicksburg when they 
surrendered to Grant on July 4, 1863, after his cele- 
brated campaign in that vicinity. One of the Congress- 
man's sons entered the army, graduating at West Point. 
Another, named after his father, Thomas, was a lawyer, 
and there were two daughters whom I knew very well, 
and in the seventies, when after my marriage I visited 
for several years the watering place at Cresson Springs, 
on the summit of the Allegheny Mountains, then a noted 
locality for a colony of Pittsburghers who spent the sum- 
mer there, I renewed my acquaintance with them. 
Among those who had handsome cottages was Andrew 
Carnegie, who lived with his mother and maintained a 
very open and cordial hospitality. The Williams girls 
were very fond of riding, and one afternoon in August 
Andrew Carnegie and myself, with the two girls, started 
out on a horseback ride from the Springs to Hollidays- 
burg. We went down the old Kittanning trail that led 
to the famous Horseshoe Bend. Where the reser- 
voir now is there was a country turnpike, and, following 
this, at night we became lost, and it was quite a long time 
before we reached the county seat, Hollidaysburg. 
Starting back, we did not arrive at Cresson Springs until 
almost daylight. I remember that it was the night of the 
August fall of shooting or meteoric stars, called, I think. 

49 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

"St. Lawrence's Tears." The whole heavens at times 
were lighted up with these blazing bolts in all directions. 
The sequel was that we were too long in the saddle, and, 
very unfortunately, one of the young ladies for a long 
time was crippled and in ill health by reason of this 
horseback journey. Mrs. Williams, after the death of 
the Congressman, with her daughters removed, I believe, 
to Philadelphia, where other branches of the Pemberton 
family then resided. Their Allegheny residence for 
some time after leaving the Upper Bank was on Western 
Avenue at the corner of what was called Bagaley's Lane. 
The mansion was afterward occupied by Dr. Hostetter, 
the famous manufacturer of the bitters of that name. 

In a few days after my interview with Congressman 
Williams I was notified by the United States Navy De- 
partment of my appointment as a cadet midshipman 
from his district, and was told to report in July at New- 
port, Rhode Island, for the preliminary examination. 
The academic year commenced on the 1st of October. 
It will be remembered that the United States Naval 
Academy was founded in 1848 by George Bancroft, the 
historian, who was Secretary of the Navy under Presi- 
dent Polk. In the early part of the Civil War, owing to 
General Butler's seizure of Baltimore and the railroad 
from there to Washington by his coup in landing Massa- 
chusetts troops at Annapolis, this latter place became un- 
tenable for the Academy. The archives and all but the 
buildings were packed up in the ships and the midship- 
men and sailors then in that locality removed to New- 
port, Rhode Island. At that place the two upper classes 
occupied quarters ashore in the town square in the old 
Hotel Aquidneck, not far from the old tower made fa- 
mous by the poem of Longfellow. The junior classes 
were stationed at Goat Island, a small island in the middle 
of the harbor, and the wooden frigates Constitution and 
Santee were moored to wooden piers extending out 
from the littoral of the island. Upon these vessels the 
midshipmen when they first entered the academy were 

50 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

housed, sleeping in hammocks by night and studying on 
the gun deck by day and going through the various drills 
on the island. Although I disliked the idea of entering 
the navy from my desire to go to the front, I took some 
little pride in having received the nomination for the 
place from so distinguished a man as the Congressman 
from that district, and was congratulated by all my rela- 
tives and friends. There were no competitive examina- 
tions in those days and the appointments to the Naval 
Academy and to West Point went entirely by favor of 
the Congressman and the United States Senators from 
the States and districts. I spent the two months prior to 
going on to the examination at Newport in preparing for 
the latter ordeal. My knowledge of the classics was very 
little help to me, as I found by the circular sent me by 
the Department that the examination and the first year's 
course at the Academy comprised simply the English 
studies, geography, history, mathematics and a little 
French. My appointment was signed by Gideon Wells, 
then Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet of President 
Lincoln. The examination consisted of both physical 
and mental, and while I looked forward to it without any 
fear, as I was pretty certain I could pass the require- 
ments, yet naturally I had some little trepidation. 

When the time approached for me to go on to New- 
port, my grandfather and grandmother accompanied me 
on this trip, which was via New York, but we stopped ofif 
at Allentown, which place the railroad at that time 
passed through as the shortest route to the metropolis. 
The stop was made to place my younger brother, Alex- 
ander Parker, in a semi-military school at that place. 
While in Allentown I was pleased to meet with a cadet, 
Henry C. Longenecker, the nephew of the Congressman 
from the Lehigh district of the same name, and a Repub- 
lican, who had been appointed by his uncle and who was 
going to Newport at the same time. It was very natural 
that we became chums and our acquaintance and inti- 
macy existed for many years. After his leaving the 

51 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

Academy he went on the retired list and became a noted 
dentist in Philadelphia. I believe he is still practicing 
his profession there. In New York City we stopped at 
the St. Nicholas Hotel, on Fifth Avenue, then the finest 
and most elaborate hostelry in the city. During the time 
we were in the metropolis news came of the explosion of 
the mine at St. Petersburg and Fort Stedman and the 
assault in which General Hartranft, afterward Gover- 
nor, won great distinction at the head of his division. I 
had a rather sad personal interest in looking over the list 
of the killed and wounded, as posted or in the papers, as 
I knew that my brother James was then attached to Gen- 
eral Ferrero's staff and I had had a letter from him sent 
me from home a short time before. Fortunately for him, 
however, General Ferrero, on account of my brother's 
aptitude at writing and at figures, detailed him as his 
secretary, and this kept him, from going into action up 
until the surrender at Appomattox. 

Newport was a beautiful place in 1864, but by no 
means covered by such splendid edifices and residential 
properties of the multi-millionaires as it is to-day. The 
town was a little old and a very quaint place. Many of 
the stores and houses gave evidence of their colonial 
origin, and there were other indications of the good 
"Old Colony Days." The temporary location of the 
Naval Academy at the place no doubt helped to add 
greatly to the revenue of the thrifty and more enterpris- 
ing "Yankees" of the locality. We stopped at the Ocean 
House, a celebrated watering place, the largest hotel, I 
think, in the town and not far from the beach. It was 
crowded with boarders and everything gave evidence of 
lavish expenditure of money and spread of fashion and 
gaiety of dress. In the evening the ballroom was 
crowded with dancers and fashionable folk from New 
York and Boston, who, notwithstanding the war times, 
were enjoying themselves, it seemed, to the utmost. This 
was the last journey I think that my grandmother and 
grandfather took to the seashore. They had alwa5'-s 

52 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

been in the habit of going every summer to Cape May 
or Newport or some other of the Atlantic watering 
places. They were both well up in years at this time, 
although strong and vigorous in mind and body, and be- 
lieved that I would be getting what they thought was a 
great career in the navy. 

The examining board held its session in the Aquidneck 
Hotel, and I went before this body in the last days of 
July. It was composed of several of the professors of 
the Academy, the head of it, I think, being Chief of the 
Department of Mathematics, Professor Coffin. I was 
very much surprised when I was being examined to find 
that the questions asked me were very elementary indeed. 
Expecting to go through a rather severe examination in 
the higher branches, I had studied up on arithmetic, 
algebra and some trigonometry, but the only interroga- 
tives were about notation and enumeration and the 
simplest sort of questioning. In geography and history 
I had little trouble, as I was pretty well up in these mat- 
ters. The day after the examination was held I was 
notified that I had passed and was ordered to report at 
the Academy to the Commandant, George B. Blake, Oc- 
tober 1, 1864. This gave me August and September at 
home. I got measured for my uniform before I left 
Newport and received it some days afterward, and felt 
very elated when I donned this raiment of Uncle Sam 
for the first time, and was quite proud of it among my 
companions and friends in the old town. I continued my 
studies and worked very hard, as I knew that the four 
years' course that I had to undergo at the Academy 
would grow more severe every year. Shortly before Oc- 
tober 1st I went on to Newport and reported to the com- 
modore in charge of the station. I was sent with the 
other midshipmen of my class aboard the Santee, where 
I remained until the following June. There were no ex- 
aminations until February, and when the results of these 
were posted, I found that I stood very well with the rest 
of my class, which contained over one hundred and 

53 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

thirty members. Our duties the first year at the Academy 
were very arduous. There was hardly a moment outside 
of the time when we were asleep in our hammocks or at 
our meals that we did not have some kind of a drill or 
exercise, either with the guns in the battery or with the 
military companies in the battalion ashore. These com- 
panies and the battalions were commanded by the senior 
classmen. In this senior class was a son of Dr. Reiter, 
of Pittsburgh, now Admiral George C. Reiter, of the 
retired list, Unitefl States Navy. He took a great interest 
in me, and it was through his tuition and instructions in 
seamanship and other matters connected with the service 
that enabled me to get along so well. 

The first year there was nothing very exciting except- 
ing in the winter months, when there was a report that 
the Alabama, the Confederate privateer, was off the 
coast, and we were suddenly hustled aboard the United 
States sloop of war Marhlehead, and went out one 
stormy night to look around for her. It probably was a 
good thing that we did not find her, as she would have 
been a good match for the vessel we were on, although 
we were all eager and anxious for a sea fight. April 9, 
1865, we were all greatly gratified at the knowledge that 
Lee had surrendered at Appomattox and the long and 
bloody struggle of four years had ended with victory for 
the Union, and Grant and Lincoln the great triumphant 
personages emerging from the war. 

Shortly after this, one Saturday morning on the 15th 
of April, while we were drilling aboard the practice ship, 
pulling and hauling on the ropes and doing the work of 
ordinary sailors, as we had to do all the time, we heard 
the news of the assassination and death of Abraham Lin- 
coln. The country, which had been filled with joy at the 
news of peace of the few days before, was now plunged 
into sadness and grief at the loss of our President, the 
great Emancipator. In June. 1865, the vessels then sta- 
tioned at Newport were all fitted for sea, and the papers, 
books, archives and all other matters pertaining to the 

54 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

Academy were placed aboard them, and with the mid- 
shipmen as sailors and a complement of regular blue 
jackets and petty officers we went to sea, first cruismg 
around Long Island Sound, and at Gardiner's Islarid go- 
ing through all the maneuvers of an old-fashioned sail- 
ing ship of the navy of that day. Everything was trans- 
ferred to the Chesapeake, and thence we went to the old 
location at Annapolis, arriving there in the early part of 
September. The large wooden frigates Santee and Con- 
stitution, the latter the celebrated man-of-war that cap- 
tured the Guerriere in the war of 1812, were I believe 
towed by the steam sloops of war and tugs to Annapolis. 
After our arrival at this latter place the class was given 
leave of absence, with orders to report October 1st at the 
old academic place. 

I had a very pleasant vacation and returned to my 
studies of the second year at the appointed time, still 
occupying quarters aboard the vessels moored at the end 
of the dock extending out into Severn River. I passed 
the examinations in February and June of that year suc- 
cessfully, and in the summer of 1866 we went aboard 
the sailing vessels Macedonian, Savannah and Marion, 
and took the usual summer cruise along the coast, going 
up as far as Portland, Maine, where we arrived shortly 
after the disastrous fire which destroyed a great portion 
of that city. We had the regular work of sailors to do at 
all times, pulling on the ropes and going along unfurling 
and reefing the sails, hoisting and lowering the smaller 
vards and generally doing all the work in company with 
the best blue jackets of the navy of that day who were 
alongside of us as the petty officers and first-class sailors. 
The first classmen were permitted to take charge of the 
decks and to maneuver the ships in fair weather, and the 
more experienced of them who showed aptitude for the 
service and good qualities of seamanship were permitted 
to handle the vessels in stress of storm. The command 
of these ships was in the hands of men who in these lat- 
ter days of the modern navy became many of them fa- 

55 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

mous all over the country and the world. Admiral 
Dewey was a lieutenant and one of the professors, and 
so was Winfield Scott Schley and Admiral Sampson and 
Captain Ryan, who lost his life in command of the 
United States ship Huron off the coast of North Caro- 
lina. He was one of the finest navigators in the old 
navy, and there was great surprise expressed when the 
news of this disaster and the loss of many officers and 
men was heard. All of these officers were lieutenants at 
that time, and few of them had attained the grade of 
lieutenant commander. Commodore George B. Blake 
was in command of the Academy while we were at New- 
port, but on our return to Annapolis Admiral David D. 
Porter, then fresh from his exploits of the Civil War, 
became superintendent and retained the headship of the 
Academy until after I graduated in 1868. 

On return from the practice cruise of 1866, in Sep- 
tember, we were granted a short leave of absence, again 
returning in October for the next year's sojourn, and 
this found me in the old brick quarters ashore. These 
were much more comfortable, as they faced the parade 
ground where we drilled and were close to the recitation 
hall and the mess hall. The latter hall was in the place 
where it had been first erected at the time the original 
halls were building at the Academy, and the Commissary 
Department was looked after by Colonel Swan, who was 
known to all the older officers of the navy, many of 
whom had attended their meals under him during their 
four years at the Academy. He was a fine rubicund 
looking type of commissary, and with a large white apron 
on and a butcher knife and fork in his hand always pre- 
sided at the head of the mess table and did the carving. 
He had a son who graduated from the Academy and was 
in the navy during the war time. Admiral Porter intro- 
duced many new ideas into the regime of the institution, 
and we were often visited by delegations from Washing- 
ton of the prominent men of Congress, both of the House 
and the Senate, and at the time of the examination and 

56 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

graduation of the senior class in the latter part of May 
and early in June of each year the drills and exercises, 
with the giving of the diplomas to the graduates, were 
interesting incidents which brought many persons from 
all over the country to view them, together with the rela- 
tives of a great many of the graduates and those who 
were then cadets at the school. Although the four years 
seemed long to look ahead when I entered at Newport, 
they seemed to roll around very quickly, and in 1867, 
having gotten into the second class, my position was 
more gratifying, although no less strenuous, as the work 
at all times was severe, and nothing was left undone to 
fit us for the duties of officers by the officers of the old 
school such as some of these I have mentioned, the very 
best qualified in the service. 

The practice cruise of 1867 was made to Europe, 
part of the class going aboard the Macedonian and the 
others on the Savannah. These two vessels were al- 
most equally mated and were kept very much together 
during our trip across to the English Channel. It was 
the year of the French Exposition, and when we arrived 
at Cherbourg, the fortified harbor of northwest France, 
we were given leave of absence of two weeks to go to 
Paris and take in this marvelous world's fair. As it 
comes back to me it certainly was a wonderful exhibition 
of the world's best productions, and we were all much 
pleased to note that the United States exhibit was far 
ahead of many of the countries exhibiting at that time. 
Many highly interesting visits were paid to all the 
numerous sights and historic places of Paris, and there 
was hardly a moment of the time we spent in that most 
artistic city of the world that was not instructive and a 
real pleasure. During this leave we saw a great review 
on the field of Mars where the French reviewed their 
army. The German Emperor, the grandfather of the 
present Emperor William, was then visiting the Exposi- 
tion. He was being received by the Emperor of France, 
Napoleon the Third, and his beautiful wife, the Empress 

57 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

Eugenie, and with all their glittering staff and pomp of 
that day. There was a magnificent turnout on this field, 
and nothing was spared to make it one of the great 
events of the time, and yet it was scarcely three years 
until these two countries were in a bloody struggle for 
existence and the German troops crossed the line and in 
time captured and entered Paris. The Emperor himself 
and eighty thousand troops laid down their arms and 
were made prisoners at Sedan, the most terrible disgrace 
that ever fell upon the French. 

This war was a great victory for the Germans. Bis- 
marck, a wonderful genius, with bitter feeling toward 
the French, caused the defeat to be more poignant and 
severe. Paris was the gayest of gay cities at this time, 
the Empire being at the very height of its glory but rot- 
ten at the core, as it was just after our Government had 
directed the French troops to be removed from Mexico 
and the veterans under Grant and Sheridan had been or- 
dered to the Rio Grande. This action was taken by Sec- 
retary Seward immediately after the close of the Civil 
War, and was in pursuance of our rights under the Mon- 
roe Doctrine. These rights were in abeyance from 1861 
to 1865, as Lincoln said, "One war was enough to have 
on our hands at one time." Officially we were treated 
with formal courtesy, but below the surface we could feel 
here and there while in France that our action in Mexico 
had rankled them. The French under Bazaine left 
Mexico and the Maximillian Government he had set up 
toppled, and Maximillian himself was shot like a dog in 
a ditch at Queretaro, and his lovely spouse, Carlotta, on 
learning of the event, lost her reason and spent the re- 
mainder of her life in an insane asylum. Such was the 
result of the overwhelming commission of this nephew 
of the great Napoleon, whom we saw nearly every day 
of the visit to Paris riding out with his staff or at some 
of the reviews or in the Exposition itself. Our return to 
the vessel at Cherbourg was very pleasant, as we passed 
through an exceedingly delightful part of France, the 

58 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

lovely Normandie, the chimes of which have been em- 
balmed in a beautiful opera. 

In returning to the capes of the Chesapeake and An- 
napolis the two sailing vessels ran a race. I was aboard 
the Savannah, and we were fifty-eight days from our 
leaving England to sighting Cape Charles, both vessels 
taking the southern passage in the brave trade winds of 
that part of the Atlantic. For many days we hardly 
touched a rope or trimmed a sail or rounded up a yard 
aboard the ship, so steadily and robustly did these wmds 
—the same which took Columbus in his origmal voyage 
of discovery over and which his superstitious sailors 
thought would never allow them to get back— blow. 
Toward the last few days we ran out of nearly all sorts 
of provisions excepting hard tack and pork, or salt 
horse," as we called it. The vessels arrived within forty- 
eight hours of each other, although one of them sailed 
many hundred miles more than the other, but, going 
farther south, met stronger trade winds. As was the 
custom on getting to Annapolis, we were given leave for 
a short time to visit our homes, returning then for the 
work of the last year of the Academy. 

I found on my return that our standing was posted 
on the basis of the reports made by the officer and of 
the work done and conduct of the midshipmen aboard. I 
was given command of one of the companies of the bat- 
talion, which was quite a cadet honor, allowing me to 
wear a double gold-laced diamond on each sleeve and to 
have charge of a company of the under classmen. I 
retained this position until the February examinations, 
when at that time, during the night of one of the balls 
which it was usual to give then, myself and some other 
classmen, putting blankets up at our windows, played 
cards in our room, contrary, of course, to the regula- 
tions. While engaged in this pastime the inspecting 
officer came in and we were all caught flagrante delicto 
The result of this escapade was my being reported and 
given a number of demerits. These latter in the gradu- 

59 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

ating year counted as much as any of the more important 
studies, so that it reduced my general standing in the 
class and I was besides deposed from my position as a 
cadet and as a company officer and put in the color guard 
of the cadet battalion. 

Shortly after this event I was saddened by receiving 
word from Pittsburgh that my grandfather, William 
Robinson, had died February 25, 1868. One of my re- 
grets was that he did not live until I graduated in the 
following June. Our class graduated that year, and 
some members of it, by reason of the fact that they had 
an excess of demerits, were not permitted to receive their 
diplomas at the time, but were ordered aboard the prac- 
tice cruise. This was a disappointment to a number of 
us, but in the long run it aided me, as it gave me better 
knowledge of seamanship and the duties of an officer, as 
I was permitted to have command of the sailing vessel at 
stated intervals during the cruise. This year we went to 
New York and up the Hudson to West Point. We had 
a competitive drill at that place with the West Point 
cadets and acquitted ourselves with great credit. They 
entertained us with a handsome ball in the mess hall, and 
before we left we had the three ships — Savannah, Mace- 
donian and Marion — moored together to give a return 
ball aboard them. It was a very brilliant affair and novel 
in its characteristics, as the ships were lighted up with 
lanterns and large sidelights, electricity not being then 
in use. 

On our return to Annapolis the Superintendent of the 
Academy handed us our diplomas, complimented us on 
our good behavior during the cruise, and the half-dozen 
or so of us, including myself, who took this extra cruise 
were allowed to go to our homes for a few days' leave. 
I visited my aunt, Mrs. Blair, then occupying the old 
homestead. No. 1 Federal Street, my mother having 
given up the house adjoining and living at that time in 
the lower part of Allegheny with her brother Eccles Rob- 
inson. This sojourn at home after graduation with all 

60 



Appointment to United States Naval Academy 

my honors fresh upon me, such as they were, was very 
pleasant, and I remained in the old town until the early 
part of December, 1868, when I received orders from 
the Navy Department to join the United States store 
ship Guard, then at the Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New 
York. 



61 



CHAPTER V 

IN EUROPE AND OTHER CRUISES 

O'er the glad waters of the dark blue sea, 
Our thoughts as boundless and our souls as free, 
Far as the breeze can bear, the billows foam, 
Survey our empire, and behold our home! 

— Lord Byron. 

I JOINED the United States store ship Guard at the 
Brooklyn Navy Yard the early part of December, 1868. 
She was in command of Captain Henry A. Adams, of 
Philadelphia, an old officer whose father had been in the 
service and who had seen severe fighting himself in the 
Civil War. The executive officer was Lieutenant Com- 
mander Henry C. Taylor, who was just returning from a 
cruise at Panama, where he had contracted the fever and 
was convalescing. Lieutenant McKenzie, of the class 
that graduated the year that I entered the Academy, was 
one of the watch officers, and several of my classmates 
were also attached to the vessel. She was an old wooden 
tub used for store ship purposes and with the double top- 
sails of a merchant vessel and all the other rigging and 
appointments of that type. On the 15th of December we 
left Sandy Hook for Lisbon, Portugal. We had hardly 
gotten out of sight of land when we were struck by a 
terrific northeast gale and snow storm. The weather was 
intensely cold. The sails were stiff and wet, covered with 
ice and snow, and also the ropes. I had charge of the 
forecastle and the reefing of the sails forward. The 
howling of the storm was so great that the word had to 
be passed from the deck aft to the waist and thence to 
the forward part of the ship. We were over two hours 
reefing the topsails and making the vessel as snug as pos- 
sible for the winter blast, which certainly was a "corker." 
My first experience afloat in command after graduation 
was anything but pleasant. The next day the storm blew 
itself out and we ran into milder weather and pleasanter 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

skies, and in a little while after passing the Azores 
reached the mouth of the Tagus, passed Belem Castle, 
and when we dropped anchor ofif Lisbon it was like a rare 
day in June. In fifteen days we had passed from the 
depth of winter to midsummer. 

We spent nearly three months in Lisbon, the capital of 
Portugal. Although a large and dirty city, it had about 
it a great many localities that were of absorbing interest. 
On New Year's Day we were received by the King, Dom 
Luis Primero, and his wife and the officers of state at 
the Royal Castle. It was the usual official call of the 
day. We were always very pleasantly entertained by the 
governing powers in Lisbon, and invitations were sent to 
us to all events of any size or importance either at Court 
or in the city. The people were a very musical set. the 
very best operas were produced there, and we had these 
entertainments to fall back on, with an occasional bull 
fight for another diversion. We made a short trip to 
Cintra — "Lo! Cintra's glorious Eden intervenes in varie- 
gated maze of mount or glen" — where the Court spent its 
summer, a lovely spot, and to other points of interest in 
the neighborhood. I also ran up to Madrid and had an 
insight into the Spanish people and their characteristics, 
the great museum there, the magnificent pictures of 
Velasquez, Murillo and others, and the beauties of that 
grim and sombre pile of buildings called the Escorial, 
built by Philip the Second as a tomb for the royal people 
of Spain and where a number of them were buried. It 
was quite a study and took us some time to thoroughly 
examine, but the monks who escorted us around and all 
the officials treated us with the greatest courtesy and 
kindness. The Escorial is built in the shape of a grid- 
iron. It is said this was done in honor of St. Lawrence, 
the patron saint of the place, who was roasted on a grid- 
iron, a martyr to Christianity. 

While at Lisbon our vessel took in a full cargo and a 
lot of olive oil for the Navy Department. The midship- 
men were active in storing this in the hold and in attend- 

64 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

ing to their duties of fitting the ship for the return voy- 
age. We received orders, however, to distribute some 
stores around among the fleet in the Mediterranean, and 
about the latter part of March, 1869, we got under way. 
After paying our final calls to the officials and firing the 
salute to the American minister, who came aboard to pay 
his respects before our departure, we made sail and left 
the mouth of the Tagus for Gibraltar, that wonderful 
fortress of British military power and strength. We ar- 
rived safely and spent a few days visiting the American 
consul and the British officials of the place (they always 
called it the "Gib"), and were shown over the rock, 
which resembled at a distance a "lion couchant." We 
entered and went through a number of galleries with 
which the rock is undermined, but we could easily see 
that a subordinate and other officers in charge did not 
show us every detail of the wonderfully constructed spot. 
It was unquestionably impregnable to any of the missiles 
or vessels of that day. Whether the monster dread- 
noughts of this time and the powerful guns they carry 
could make an impression upon it is a question for mili- 
tary and naval engineers who know these things much 
better than I do. 

From Gibraltar we had a very pleasant run up the 
Mediterranean as far as Naples. It is a lovely harbor 
and the season of the year was propitious and the coun- 
try around in its prettiest garb. Vesuvius, at the end of 
the semicircle which formed the bay, was smoking and 
gave evidence of its sullen and internal fires. On the 
south side were the hills of Sorrento and Castel Mare ; 
the excavated sides of Pompeii and Herculaneum north 
and the hills above the park in the city made an enchant- 
ing picture. The sight of these rambling and uneven 
houses, some tall and slim, others flat and squat, others 
old and dirty, brought to my mind the adage, "See 
Naples and die," but we were rather inclined to turn it 
around to "Die and see Naples afterward," if we could 
There were many handsome places, however, within vis- 

65 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

iting distance, and we took occasion to see them all. Sor 
rento and its fine hotel on the bluff overlooking the sea 
the grotto of Capri, the ancient site of Pompeii and Her 
culaneum, and Vesuvius itself, which we made an ascent 
of one day, going up about half-way on a mule and being 
pulled up the rest of the way by a guide. The earth was 
so hot under our feet that we had to move about quickly 
when near the crater, and you could not stand the fumes 
of smoke excepting on the windward side. One look 
into the awful crater with the molten lava fuming and 
sizzling hundreds of feet below was enough for any per- 
son. Surely it was a glimpse of hell itself with the lid 
off. From Naples we went up to the Island of Sardinia, 
thence to Corsica, and thence to the harbor of Spezzia 
This is a landlocked and fortified harbor with a strong 
navy yard used by the Italians as a naval storing place 
We remained there quite a while, and our captain was 
very liberal in permitting us to make a number of visits 
in the interior, all of which were quite interesting. On 
these I went at various times to Rome, Florence, Venice. 
Milan, Turin, and a number of other unimportant small 
places. 

The American consul at Spezzia was a fine old gentle- 
man by the name of Rice. He had been there for a long 
time; his hospitality was of the very best, as he in the 
olden times had kept the stores for the naval fleet then 
maintained by this country in the Mediterranean. He 
had a number of them left, among them a few barrels of 
famous old navy whisky that was given out to the men in 
the days when grog was served and when men were 
flogged at the same time for misdemeanors aboard the 
ship. During the return part of the Civil War, when 
the course of arms seemed to be going against us, there 
was quite a sanctimonious lot of people in the United 
States who thought we would never be able to make any 
headway against the Confederates unless we abolished 
whisky in the navy and put "In God we Trust" on our 
coins. Both of these things were done. Perhaps the 

66 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

former was not an unwise act, but the latter did not seem 
to have any particular effect one way or the other on the 
fate of the Republic. This old Monongahela rye whisky 
was never excelled, and, with the old black navy tobacco 
which was issued in those days aboard the ships, was bet- 
ter than gold or silver or any coin of the realm for pur- 
poses of exchange with the natives of any of the coun- 
tries we visited abroad. Particularly the tobacco, ihe 
little urchins would dive for it if we threw it into the 
sea- men and women would beg for it to crush up and 
use' for their cigarettes and pipes, and in every way it 
was a very desirable article. 

We left Spezzia for Genoa, where we stayed a tew 
days and then went to Villa Franca, the harbor of Nice, 
France. Villa Franca is around a promontory a few 
miles from Nice, and there we remained for several 
weeks and had a most dehghtful time. The American 
colony at Nice was very kind to us and we were tre- 
quently entertained by members of it and reciprocated it 
aboard our vessel so far as we could do so in our limited 
quarters. Monte Carlo was only a short distance away 
by rail or over the beautiful Coniche road and the 
Riviera. Of course, we midshipmen, as well as some 
older officers, tried hard at times to break the bank at 
Monte Carlo, but naturally without much success, owing 
to the fact of our limited exchequer. It was, however a 
pleasant spot to visit. Fine restaurants there, with the 
best appointment and service, and the music in the club 
house was of the very best, unexcelled anywhere in Eu- 
rope Built on an eminence overlooking the blue ot the 
Mediterranean, the magnificent Italian sky above, the 
svmphonies of Verdi and oratorios of Mendelssohn ring- 
ing in our ears, with the jingle of the gold and silver as 
th? croupiers handled the money on the roulette tables, 
was a sight to be long remembered, and comes back on 
the memory with the Italian dreams of youth. A great 
many titled people and wealthy English, French and 
Russians were there, and the club house was crowded 

67 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

day and night with the most fashionable people. Some 
men and women were palsied so that they could hardly 
hold the money in their hands, and were wheeled in 
chairs by attendants, still playing at the game of chance, 
hoping that Dame Fortune would come their way. Our 
stay at Villa Franca was exceedingly delightful in every 
way, the weather being perfect and the associations 
ashore and in the harbor congenial and intimate. There 
were several yachts and a number of naval vessels of 
different powers at anchor. At the same time our old 
store ship was in the harbor the United States steamer 
Richmond, Captain Rush R. Wallace in command, was 
there. For a while the Duke of Hamilton, one of the 
British nobility and a genuine sport, with his yacht, was 
a daily visitor to Monte Carlo. 

As the weather grew warm we received orders to re- 
turn to Lisbon and the United States. Our voyage back 
to the capital of Portugal was uneventful, and we re- 
mained there only long enough to finish up the placing 
of our cargo of olive oil and other things to bring to this 
side. A number of midshipmen of the European squad- 
ron were ordered to join ours at Lisbon and return home 
with us. This made the steerage, where the midshipmen 
lived aboard the Guard adjoining the quarters of the 
commissioned officers in the wardroom, overcrowded. I 
think there were from fourteen to sixteen men of my 
class in the steerage. We were glad when our home- 
ward bound pennant was flung out to the breeze and we 
bade good-bye to Lisbon and Europe. Our voyage across 
by the southern route was slow and tedious, as our vessel 
was by no means a fast sailer, and when we had heavy 
weather, as we did off Hatteras and Bermuda, and she 
rolled in the trough of the sea, it was enough to turn a 
man's constitution, let alone his stomach. We got to 
New York and were given leave of absence. There were 
orders to report to Annapolis for examination for pro- 
motion to the grade of ensign, the next grade above that 
of midshipman. It was a pleasant return to the old quar- 

68 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

ters for a few days. Our examinations were based as 
usual a good deal upon the reports made upon our con- 
duct and aptitude for the service during the late cruise 
on the Guard, and in a few days I received notice that I 
had passed the examination successfully and received my 
commission. 

I returned to my old home at Pittsburgh and spent 
some time there among my friends and relatives, and on 
the first of that year was ordered to the Philadelphia 
Navy Yard, the old navy yard at the foot of Christian 
Street. I had applied for this duty on account of hav- 
ing relatives in Philadelphia — an aunt, Mrs. Alexander 
Parker Robinson, and her brothers, the Hon. Titian J. 
Coffey, ex-Assistant Attorney General and ex-State 
Senator, and the Hon. George Coffey, who was United 
States District Attorney for the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania during the early part of the Civil War. I 
lived with my aunt on Walnut Street, West Philadel- 
phia, during my service at the navy yard and used to 
walk from there and back every day, thinking nothing of 
the trip. My cousins being young ladies in society^ in 
Philadelphia at that time made my sojourn there during 
the winter very agreeable. I attended many parties, ban- 
quets and other festivities with them. They were al- 
ways glad to have me go, especially when I wore my uni- 
form, which navy and army officers rather disliked to do 
except on official occasions. 

About the 1st of April, 1870, I was very much sur- 
prised to get a big envelope from the Navy Department 
advising me to report immediately to the United States 
man-of-war Colorado at New York City, Brooklyn Navy 
Yard. "Immediate orders" in naval parlance means that 
you must report within forty-eight hours. As I knew 
the Colorado was commissioned to bear the flag of Rear 
Admiral John Rodgers, who was going to assume com- 
mand of the Asiatic fleet and was ready to sail for that 
station, it was rather a quick notice to go around the 
world. Fortunately for me, and which enabled me to 

69 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

make full preparations, one of the pivot guns forward on 
the Colorado was out of order. It required some time 
to fix it. This detained her off the Battery for a num- 
ber of days. In the meantime I had wired to my mother 
in Pittsburgh and she came on with my younger brother, 
Alexander Parker, to see me and bid me good-bye. The 
Colorado was one of the old frigates of anti-bellum days 
and was a stanch and noble ship of her kind. Her com- 
plement was nearly a thousand men, and everything 
aboard of her was in the most excellent condition and 
shaken down for a long and tedious voyage to the other 
side of the world. The executive officer of the vessel 
was Commander Silas Casey, a son of General Casey. 
of the Army of Engineers, U. S. A. ; the navigating offi- 
cer was Henry F. Picking, a classmate of Casey's. I be- 
lieve the watch officers were all lieutenants of the class 
of 1863-64, The senior lieutenant was Lieutenant Mc- 
Kee, of Kentucky. After taking aboard our powder at 
the magazine station below the Battery, off New York 
City, "swinging ship," and going through other opera- 
tions necessary before so long a voyage, we set sail for 
the Orient. Although the Colorado had fairly good en- 
gines and propellers, she was not a fast vessel under 
steam, and the orders from the Department were strict 
in those days to save all the coal possible, so that steam 
was seldom gotten up except before going in and out of 
harbor or in some place where it was necessary to have 
auxiliary control of the ship. We made our easting 
more than half-way across the Atlantic, and from there 
ran to the westward to double Cape San Roque, this 
being the usual route for sailing vessels to South 
America, and the easting was covered in order not to get 
"back strapped" on the north side of this cape, where, if 
without steam, a vessel would be in a very bad condition, 
as it would have to make the voyage almost all over 
again. We were successful, however, and cleared the 
cape and made the harbor of Rio Janeiro, passing into 
this beautiful haven, opening up as it does when you pass 

70 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

Mount Corcovado into a landlocked bay that would 
float the navies of the world. We remained at anchor 
for several weeks enjoying the hospitalities of the Bra- 
zilian Government, and were entertained at Petropolis, a 
mountain resort north of Rio (where the nobility and 
the ministers and other officials went during the hot sea- 
son), by the Hon. Henry C. Blow, of St. Louis. We 
had official interviews with Dom Pedro, the Emperor of 
Brazil, and his cabinet, and received invitations to all the 
official functions usual at the capital. 

We left Rio in the latter part of June and ran across 
in about thirty days to the Cape of Good Hope. As the 
harbor of this place is an open one, our vessel went 
around to the better harbor of St. Simon's Bay. We 
visited Cape Town a number of times, riding over by 
horseback or other conveyance, and had an agreeable so- 
journ in that noted southern city. Table Mountain bears 
out its name and fame, as does the famous mutton of the 
cape and the Constantia wine, made at the vineyards. 
There the British flagship Galatea, in command of a flag 
officer of the British navy, and with the Duke of Edin- 
burgh aboard, then going through his career as a naval 
officer, was in the harbor at the same time as ours. Go- 
ing home late one night from Cape Town, and stopping 
at a road house about half-way between that place and 
St. Simon's Bay, where our ship was, we met the Duke 
of Edinburgh and his flag lieutenant and chums. Both 
parties were feeling the effects of the genial Constantia 
wine, as well as the noted French brandy of those south- 
ern climes, and the result was that the semblance of roy- 
alty was thrown aside in our intercourse with the duke 
and he sang and danced with us, and we all had a pretty 
good time until daylight told us that it was time to re- 
turn to our ship or be reported for overstaying our leave. 
A few days afterward we hove anchor and prepared the 
vessel for making it snug and taut for the long trip 
across the Indian Ocean. We left St. Simon's Bay about 
the first week in July. A day or two afterward we had 

71 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

quite a heavy snow storm and gale of wind. When I 
relate these facts to my friends in this Northern Hemis- 
phere they forget the fact that the climate changes with 
the places and cannot at first understand why there 
should be a snow storm in the middle of July. 

Following the sailing directions for crossing the In- 
dian Ocean we made what is called our "southing" of 
five hundred or a thousand miles due south ; then point- 
ing her nose to the rising sun, with the brave westerly 
gales and the tremendous seas of those oceans, we ran 
almost twenty-five hundred miles on one degree of lati- 
tude before we turned to the north'ard and made our 
landfall again at the entrance to the Straits of Java. We 
passed through these straits, stopping a while at one of 
the stations to buy fresh provisions, as we had been a 
long time without them. We crossed over and anchored 
at the Peninsular town of Singapore. Java Head was 
the point we made at the southern entrance to the Straits, 
where there was then a fine lighthouse. I was sent by 
the navigating officer to make a sketch of this and the 
places of importance around. In going through this arm 
of the sea, it will be recalled that about a decade later the 
most tremendous cataclysm that probably ever occurred 
on this earth took place around these localities at and 
near the island of Krakatoa. This island disappeared 
from the effects of an earthquake, tens of thousands of 
people perished, and the tremor and shock was felt all 
around the world. The fine cosmic dust that arose from 
the island and was thrown up by the volcanic action of 
the earthquake filled the atmospherical spaces, and for 
many days at sunset afterward the heavens were lurid, 
as if a gigantic conflagration was taking place at some 
point on the far distant horizon. At Singapore we first 
learned the news of the Franco-Prussian war, and, of 
course, being a neutral country, as we are now, we had 
to be careful in all our relations with the European pow- 
ers then in a struggle for supremacy. 

Singapore, while lying under the equator, has yet a 

72 



In Europe and Other Cruises 

very salubrious climate and was a very populous and 
cosmopolitan city, all nationalities being seen on its 
streets. The flagship of Admiral Daniel Ammen, the 
Piscataqua, was in the harbor, and our flagship relieved 
Admiral Ammen, John Rodgers then becoming the com- 
mander of the Asiatic fleet. 

Before leaving New York the men of the Colorado 
had a fine whaleboat prepared and built at the Brooklyn 
Navy Yard and had been practicing rowing as well as 
they could on the outward voyage, as the sailors of the 
Piscataqua had beaten everybody on the Asiatic squad- 
ron; consequently our men were anxious to have a trial 
of speed rowing with them. So our anchor hardly had 
been down when they were challenged. In a few days 
the race took place, and all the officers of the fleet and 
other vessels in the harbor witnessed the contest with 
great zest. It resulted in favor of our boat, and we took 
the pennant for the time being and were very proud of 
it. A good deal of money that we had accumulated on 
the voyage out changed hands on these races. A few 
days later the flagship of Admiral Ammen bade us fare- 
well to return to the United States, and the admiral after- 
ward became the head of the Bureau of Navigation at 
the Navy Department. He was a great friend of Gen- 
eral Grant's, and I think they were both appointed to 
their respective academies — Annapolis and West Point 
— from the same home town in Ohio. The sloops of war 
Benecia and Alaska, fine vessels of their class, were on 
the squadron with us, and a number of other smaller 
ships, including the double-enders Monocacy and Ashue- 
lot. We did not meet these latter vessels till we went 
north, but the Benecia and Alaska made the voyage out 
from the same course that we did, via the Cape of Good 
Hope and Indian Ocean, and a number of my classmates 
were aboard the two latter sloops of war. It was very 
pleasant to have a reunion with them after these vessels 
came into port. 



72 




MUTSUHITO, EMPEROR THE SECOND OF JAPAN 
SON OF MUTSUHITO THE FIRST 



CHAPTER VI 

CHINA AND JAPAN 

If you've 'eard the East a-calling, 
Why you won't 'eed nothing else. 
— Rudyard Kipling. 

Our first experience with the great Celestial Kingdom 
of China was after our vessel left Singapore and arrived 
at the second Gibraltar of the British Empire, Hong 
Kong. It is a fortified rock situated at the mouth of the 
Canton River and is a high strategic point. There is a 
flag and signal station on the summit of the hill, and on 
the side where the town is overlooking the harbor there 
are many fine buildings, stores, banks, commission 
houses, club houses and residences. There were a num- 
ber of foreign vessels in the harbor of Hong Kong when 
we arrived. We remained for quite a little while, and 
during that time I had an opportunity to visit Canton, 
the most popular city in China next to the capital, Pekin. 
It swarms with a race of Chinese, most of whom are the 
kind who come to this country — small of stature, eyes 
keen and bright, very intelligent and industrious. A 
large portion of the population of the town is located on 
boats in the river. They are called sampans, and the 
Chinese are very expert at handling them, as they are 
very big junks. Thousands of Cantonese are born, live 
and die on these boats without ever going very far away 
from home. The junks have great big eyes at the bow, 
and when you ask a Chinaman why these are placed there, 
he will say, in "pidgin English" — the language that is 
spoken between the European and the Chinese, being a 
kind of mongrel Chinese and English — "No have eyes, 
no can see; no can see, how can do?" There was a very 
extended commerce up and down the river. We noticed 
a great many of the children on the boats in the river 
had large gourds tied around their necks, and on being 
asked the meaning of it were told they were boys, and if 

75 



China and Japan 

they fell overboard this would save them from drown- 
ing, whereas the girls were less important and were not 
so provided with these preservers. 

The vestiges of the Taeping rebellion, in which Chi- 
nese Gordon made his mark, were not obliterated, and 
we saw many evidences of it in the environs of Canton. 
We did not go far out from the city, as we were warned 
it was not safe, especially after nightfall, for foreigners 
to be found in localities away from their concessions and 
consulates. We could hear at times the children calling 
after us, "Fank-wei," "Fank-wei" — "Foreign Devil," 
"Foreign Devil" — which showed the animosity yet re- 
maining among some of the populace toward us. The 
commander, or Tao-Tai, and all the official classes 
treated us with great formality and courtesy. 

An interesting place we visited when in Hong Kong 
was the Portuguese settlement of Macao, across the bay 
from the town of Hong Kong. It is a hybrid city in 
population and subject to the Portuguese Government, 
the main trade being opium, hemp, rice and the other 
commodities of southern China. It was there that I and 
other officers were first introduced to the great Chinese 
gambling game of "Fan-Tan." It is played with a pile 
of cash or brass pennies with square holes in the center 
of them that the banker gathers into a large heap 
before him, and each player takes out a lot of them and 
bets are made as to the number remaining after the 
banker counts off the pile one, two, three or four, as the 
case may be. Some of the large gambling hells here at 
night were crowded with sailors, officers and Chinese 
compradores, or buyers for the big tea houses, and in 
spite of the chatter of all languages of a dozen different 
nationalities and the click and clink of the cash on the 
gaming tables, the halls otherwise are very quiet, as the 
Chinese, as a rule, are not very demonstrative at a loss 
or gain of fortune. We also visited the opium dens of 
Macao for the first time, where we could see the dire 
effects of this drug upon the populace. Nearly every 

76 



China and Japan 

Chinaman of any consequence who can afford it "hits 
the pipe," as the saying is, once or twice a day and pos- 
sibly oftener if he is older or is a confirmed victim. 
There are bunks around these rooms and dens, and in 
nearly all of them were Chinamen lying in various stages 
of anesthesia produced by the insidious drug. There is a 
small pipe in which they put a pellet of gum opium pre- 
pared in various stages of strength, and this is lighted as 
a cigarette or cigar and the fumes inhaled, and in a few 
moments the victim is at peace with all the world and 
tumbles over in his bunk until the effects pass away, 
when he gets up and goes about his usual avocation. 

We hove anchor on the flagship shortly after our re- 
turn from Canton and proceeded up the coast past For- 
mosa to Shanghai. This is one of the most enterprising 
and best cities of the kingdom, the foreign concession 
extending along several miles of the quay, or bund, as it 
is called, and many fine buildings were erected by the 
large tea houses, who employ a great number of Ameri- 
cans and Englishmen in the business. There are quite a 
number of banks, and most of the current business is 
done in Mexican dollars, there being three different 
qualities of these, those not abraded at all being called 
"first chop" dollars, and the others second and third chop. 
We were always paid in Mexican dollars while on the 
Eastern squadron. Of course, we could not carry much 
of this kind of money about with us, and there is a sys- 
tem there which obviates the necessity of it. You sign 
an I. O. U. or chit, as it is called. At the first of the 
month these are all presented to you from various trades- 
men, or if vour vessel is about to depart you are ex- 
pected to pay at once in full, and as a rule there is very 
little defalcation in the payment, those who do default 
never getting the benefit of the system again. The Chi- 
nese town of Shanghai is distinct from the European 
settlement and is on the west side of Yang-King-Pan 
Creek, which divides the two places. A visit to the Chi- 
nese city is interesting, but one or two would suffice. 

77 



China and Japan 

The streets are very narrow, not more than six feet in 
places. The gutter runs down the center of the thor- 
oughfare and all the filth and offal is thrown into this 
depository. There were no white wings or street clean- 
ers that we ever saw. These streets were lined with 
stores, in which an immense amount of business was 
transacted, and you brushed along on both sides, rub- 
bing up against Chinese men, women and children al- 
ways while you were in the town. The number of dogs 
running about mangy, cadaverous and hungry looking 
were beyond count. Many of the Chinese, one noticed, 
had elephantiasis, a disease which swells up the limbs to 
an enormous size and they break out in sores, and we 
saw other verifications of what we read in Holy Writ of 
the dogs licking the sores of the diseased Chinamen. In 
Cologne, as Coleridge says : 

I counted two-and-seventy stenches, 

All well-defined, and several stinks ! 

Ye nymphs that reign o'er sewers and sinks, 

The river Rhine, it is well known, 

Doth wash your city of Cologne ; 

But tell me, nymphs, what power divine 

Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine? 

But of all the stinks that the human olfactories could 
possibly imagine or derive an odor from, the smell aris- 
ing from a Chinese town like this is the most intense and 
abominable that I ever came across. 

On account of the Flagship Colorado drawing too 
much water she was unable to go up to the harbor of 
the city of Shanghai and anchored some ten or fifteen 
miles below at the mouth of the Woosung River. We 
visited the city by steam launches. While at this place 
I was detached from the Colorado and ordered to report 
to Commander McCrea, of the United States steamship 
(double-ender) Monocacy. This latter vessel was at the 
time in the repair shop being overhauled, and I, with the 
other officers, took quarters ashore, formed a mess, and 

78 



China and Japan 

lived in a house at Portland Place not far from the heart 
of the city. As it took several months to repair the 
Monocacy, we had very little to do in the way of official 
duty, one of the officers being detailed daily to supervise 
the work being done upon the Monocacy. While at 
Shanghai I met quite a number of very interesting peo- 
ple from the United States and England who had come 
out in years previous as young men and had taken places 
in the big mercantile houses. The intercourse with these 
gentlemen was at all times very pleasant. We had the 
entree to one or two good clubs, and also were invited 
to nearly all the official and social entertainments given 
by the prominent people of the city. The Colorado left 
us some weeks after I had been detached from her and 
sailed to the north to communicate with our minister at 
Pekin. The admiral was also the bearer from our Gov- 
ernment of some sort of communication to the Govern- 
ment of Corea, which at that time was a closed kingdom 
and, although nominally belonging to China and paying 
tribute to the latter kingdom, was in many senses an inde- 
pendent Government. Very little was known of it, and 
they were very jealous of the Europeans on account of 
an expedition which had been made some years before 
from Shanghai to that country for the purpose of ran- 
sacking some of the graves of the kings, in which it was 
supposed valuable treasures were secreted or buried. 
This expedition did not amount to anything, but aroused 
the hostilities of the Corean people, and they were quite 
suspicious of any approach of foreigners to their isolated 
kingdom. 

Early in the spring of that year the repairs on the 
Monocacy were completed, and we ran down and an- 
chored at the mouth of the Woosung River for the pur- 
pose of making a survey and verifying some of the charts 
of the mouth of the Yang-Tse-Kiang. This river is the 
largest in China and is navigable for hundreds of miles, 
and the smaller sloops of war, Benecia and Alaska, both 
made visits far up the stream to Nankin. Among other 

79 



China and Japan 

things these officers saw were the remains of the cele- 
brated porcelain tower, which beautiful structure was 
destroyed during the Taeping rebellion. A line of 
steamers similar to those large ones that ply between 
New York and Albany, and built in the United States 
and sent out there, ran between Shanghai and the interior 
cities of the kingdom on the Yang-Tse River. They 
were very liberally patronized by the natives. The spec- 
ulation of taking them out to that country and establish- 
ing the passenger traffic paid very handsomely to those 
who initiated it. One of our pastimes while we lay at 
anchor at the mouth of the Woosung River was to go 
ashore hunting. The whole of this country around the 
mouth of the Yang-Tse and surrounding Shanghai is 
low and covered by rice fields, thickets and hedges of 
bamboo. In these thickets the game, partridges, pheas- 
ants, etc., would hide. They were very plentiful, but 
quite wild, as the Chinese never hunted them at all. The 
golden-tailed pheasant is a magnificent bird. The first 
time one flew up and I drew bead on it to shoot I had 
what might have been synonymous with the buck fever 
that those who shoot deer for the first time have, the 
noise and flutter of the bird arising created such a racket. 
Its plumage and size make it an object of curiosity to 
those who have never seen one. We soon got accus- 
tomed to them, however, and we knew how, after a little 
while, to shoot them. Among the places where we would 
find these birds and other game would be in and around 
the thickets that grew up where the Chinese buried their 
dead ; that is, the more v/ealthy of the Chinese, as it is 
only the latter who can afford the coffins, which were 
made of a kind of wood that is as hard as iron and comes 
from Che-fu I think. Many of the well-to-do Chinese 
mandarins have these coffins ready made in their houses 
for use in case of death, and there is an adage in the lan- 
guage which says, "It is well for a Chinaman to die at 
Che-fu, as he can secure one of these coffins at a mod- 
erate rate." At death they are put in these coffins and 

80 



China and Japan 

hermetically sealed. These burial caskets are from four 
to five feet high and eight to twelve feet long, sometimes 
larger. Burial is made by simply taking these coffins out 
and putting them upon the ground in a place outside of 
the city limits. The whole country around for miles is 
dotted with these ironwood relics and departed Chi- 
nese, and the winds and rains and storms of many years 
have bleached the tops of them so that they are as white 
and clean as a good housewoman's kitchen floor or the 
deck of a fine man-of-war. While out shooting on these 
expeditions we would sit down on these boxes and eat 
our lunch. 

The business of surveying the mouth of the large and 
turbulent Yang-Tse was no easy task, as we would be 
away from the ship at times for hours, and the fog com- 
ing up would shut it out and we would be alone in the 
boats, not knowing exactly where we were until the 
weather cleared up the mist. However, we made some 
very useful corrections to the old charts and rectified 
some important lines that were erroneous on those fur- 
nished to us by the Navy Department. 

Visits were paid up the Gulf of Peechili, to Tien- 
Tsing, and the mouth of the Peiho River. Short leave 
was given to such of us as desired to visit the capital at 
Pekin. The Chinese of this part of the kingdom are 
quite different from the southern or Cantonese Chinese, 
being much taller and larger in stature and apparently 
more vigorous and enterprising. The climate is much 
colder in winter and snow and ice are not infrequent. 
Most of these rich Chinese wear very beautiful furs of 
the very finest quality coming from Siberia and the far 
North. Pekin and its environs are of the greatest interest. 
It is surrounded by a moat and wall with very heavy 
gates. The foreign legations were all in one section of 
the capital. The great wall and the cemetery or burial 
place of the kings, emperors and empresses of the 
Manchu and Ming Dynasty were a very curious study, 
and one could readily imagine what enormous work was 



China and Japan 

done upon the former, and what wealth, labor and ex- 
penditure it took to build and erect the tombs of the 
dead rulers of this kingdom. But all this matter has 
been written up so frequently in books and read about 
that it would not be worth while to go over it here. 

About June, 1871, the Monocacy was ordered to pro- 
ceed to Nagasaki, in Japan, across the Yellow Sea. As 
I have stated, the Monocacy was a double-ender ; that is, 
she could go either forward or back, being built during 
Civil War times, with her class, to be used in the rivers 
of the South, where they were so narrow that it would 
be impossible to make a turn. The decks are low except 
forward, and this class of vessel is by no means a good 
sea boat. In crossing this Yellow Sea we ran into a most 
terrific gale. It was as much as we could do at times to 
keep the old vessel from foundering, as the water would 
go over her bow in a solid wall five to seven feet high and 
could not be carried off in the scuppers fast enough. 
Some of it would go down in the engine room and cre- 
ate quite a consternation and fright among the firemen 
and coal heavers. The gale abated, however, without 
any serious accident except the loss of one or two of our 
boats, and we got into the harbor of Nagasaki safely, 
where we found the flagship and other vessels of the 
squadron. They were preparing to go to Corea, and in 
a short time did so. The sailors and marines with these 
vessels and the flagship had quite a little fight with the 
Coreans, which was caused by the latter firing upon a 
boat party of our men who were surveying the River 
Kiang-ho, and demand was made by Admiral Rodgers 
for an apology and a limited time given for it. None 
coming, however, the smaller vessels went up as near to 
the fort as they could get and a battalion of sailors and 
marines landed and attacked the fort on the land side, it 
being situated on an extremity of a long peninsula. The 
fort was thoroughly shelled, with great loss of life to the 
Coreans, and after the bombardment a charge was made 
by the land force in command of Captain Schley, Cap- 

82 



China and Japan 

tain Casey and others. The Monocacy was useful in 
this attack on the fort because she could approach it 
closer, drawing less water than the other vessels. The 
charge was successful. The Coreans could not resist the 
onslaught of our blue jackets and marines. Those who 
remained alive fled down the side of the fort and tried to 
swim across from the peninsula to the mainland, and 
many were shot in this endeavor. They fought fiercely 
until they were completely destroyed. Their weapons 
were spears and a sort of old-fashioned gun called a 
jingall. Three of our men were killed and several 
wounded. Among the killed was Lieutenant McKee, of 
the Colorado, who was a son of Captain McKee, who 
was killed at Buena Vista in the Mexican War. He was 
a splendid officer, and as on the cruise to the East he was 
on the same watch with me, being aft while I was on the 
forecastle, we became very intimate. When the weather 
was good he would call me to the quarter deck and we 
would chat there together for hours during the night 
watches. He seemed to have a premonition that he 
would never return home, although this Corean fight 
was not then foreseen or expected. He was the first 
man from the parapet in the charge, and was struck in 
the breast by a jingall ball. He was carried aboard the 
Monocacy and died there about sunset. A marine and 
a sailor were also killed. Hundreds of Coreans were 
found in the interior of the fort after its capture dead 
and torn all to pieces by the shot and shell that the ves- 
sels had poured into the structure before the charge. 

I was ordered from the Monocacy to join the United 
States store ship Idaho in Yokohama harbor, and took 
passage on a Pacific mail steamer and had a very pleas- 
ant voyage through the Suwo-Nada, or "Inland Sea," to 
Yokohama. These Pacific mail steamers were large side- 
wheeled, commodious vessels, fitted up in the very best 
style. All the appointments and the table meals, etc., 
were very good, and I enjoyed this voyage very much. 
We stopped at Kobe and Osaka. Before leaving Naga- 

83 



China and Japan 

saki I took a trip in the interior to visit the noted tea 
gardens, and saw this latter plant in all varieties of cul- 
ture, and also the article as a finished product in the "go 
downs," or storing houses, where there were thousands of 
boxes put up as we see them in the stores here and repre- 
senting a great deal of money invested by the big Jap- 
anese merchants. The steamer Republic, in which I went 
to Yokohama, carried an immense cargo of these tea 
boxes for shipment to San Francisco and the United 
States. 

The trips I made to the interior of Japan were of the 
highest interest, as at that time the country was still in 
an unsettled state and had not fully passed from the old 
feudal system to the imperial Government, We were 
warned that it was dangerous at times to make these 
visits, but at no time were we molested, and the men. 
women and children all seemed to view us as curiosities, 
and some of them would even come and put their fingers 
on our faces, thinking that the color was artificial rather 
than real, so different was it from their bronze features. 
Many of the temples and old ancestral trees surrounding 
them, and the bonzes, or priests, "shaven and shorn," 
who attended upon them were a study, and much more 
time could have been spent in gathering information 
about them, but the steamer's time was limited at the 
various ports we stopped at. However, leaving Osaka 
the voyage is by open sea to Yokohama harbor, and the 
entrance to this and the bay, which is a magnificent 
harbor with the truncated cone of the mountain Fuji- 
Yama looming up for fifty miles in the distance, making 
a beautiful picture. All the hills were clad in verdure, 
dotted with the quaint Japanese bungalows and cottages 
or occasional castles of the Diamios or rulers of prov- 
inces, and the highly cultivated state of the country round 
made it a panorama of entrancing beauty long to be re- 
membered. The climate was mild and warm, as the 
weather had not yet begun to fill with the summer heat. 
After our landing from the mail steamship I donned my 

84 



China and Japan 

uniform and, hiring a boat from a Japanese boatman, 
was taken out to the United States store ship Idaho, an- 
chored or moored in the harbor, where I reported for 
duty to the late Admiral J. Crittenden Watson, of Ken- 
tucky, the same person who was staff-lieutenant for Far- 
ragut at the time of his famous victory at Mobile Bay 
in August, 1864. I was received cordially by the officers 
of the Idaho, who were few in number, as were the 
sailors, as she was moored in the harbor and had a 
wooden house all over her. William K. McGunnegle, 
of my own State, from Meadville, was executive officer. 
I was navigator and in charge of the stores of that bu- 
reau. The late Paymaster Torbert, of that noted family 
of the Delaware State, was one of the officers, also Dr. 
J. Rufus Tryon, who afterward became head of the 
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery at Washington. 

The duties aboard the vessel were very light, and 
while discipline was kept up the watches were allowed to 
be passed over to the quartermaster in the day time and 
we could go ashore quite often, the only inconvenience 
being that the Idaho lay at some distance from the wharf, 
and in heavy weather it was disagreeable and sometimes 
dangerous to go out to her late at night. 

In covering these reminiscences of China and Japan I 
have tried to give them a more personal turn, believing 
that the experience that I observed myself and went 
through will be more entertaining than a rehearsal of 
many things that can be read or have been read in books. 
Yokohama was a scattered lot of stores and houses along 
the sea front, and on the block above were the residences 
and offices of the ministers and foreign representatives. 
The consular agents had their offices in the town. It was 
but a small place when Perry first made his treaty with 
Japan, and the country was opened to Europeans, but 
when I arrived there it had grown considerably in size 
and there were some very fine buildings erected by the 
large tea houses, the foreign representatives and club 
houses, and some large stores of Japanese merchants. 

85 



China and Japan 

The capital of Japan, Tokio, lies some twenty miles to the 
north of Yokohama, but the water is very shallow in this 
part of the bay and vessels usually anchor off Yokohama. 
The great military road of Japan, the To-kai-do, runs 
past Yokohama and up to Tokio. At the time that I 
arrived the Japanese were building a railroad between 
the two cities. It was under the supervision of English 
engineers and constructors with English capital back of 
it. I made a number of trips into the interior of Japan 
during my sojourn on the Idaho, all of which were most 
interesting. The Japanese at this time were quite a 
study, as they were passing through the changes that 
have led up to the wonderful results that we see to-day. 
There was a strong anti-foreign element, but many of the 
brighter and younger of the Japanese and those who had 
some chance to see the world outside of Japan were all 
in favor of progress and uplift which has come to the 
nation, and a great number of prominent professors and 
teachers from colleges in Europe and the United States 
and officers of the German and English armies were em- 
ployed by the Government to teach in the Japanese 
schools and the university at this time. 

The most memorable visit that I made was in company 
with our commander. Captain Watson, and several other 
officers to see the Emperor of Japan at the Royal Palace 
at Tokio. He was then about sixteen years of age and 
had never seen, except at a distance possibly, any Euro- 
peans face to face excepting the British minister. Sir 
Harry Parks, and his staff. He had had an interview 
with this officer just prior to the time that we had our 
interview. Sir Harry Parks was the celebrated English 
minister who was at Australia and then afterward min- 
ister resident at Pekin during the Chinese rebellion. He 
went through a rather thrilling experience there, being 
captured by some of the leading factionists and impris- 
oned in a cage, and for sometime it was doubtful 
whether he would be executed or starve to death. Our 
party drove to Tokio on the To-kai-do and stopped at 

86 



China and Japan 

the consulate. In the latter place our minister, Mr. De 
Long, joined the party, and so did Admiral John Rodgers 
and his chief of staff. Captain Nichols, his flag lieuten- 
ant, Mr, Wheeler, and a number of other officers of the 
flagship. The To-kai-do, the road on which in the old 
days the armies of the Tycoon tramped to and fro on 
their forays with their armies of retainers, the two sorted 
class or samurai, is lined with ancient stately trees and 
was a beautiful drive, as every spot of Japan as big as 
the size of a man's hand is under cultivation. At a green 
spot near the capital, Tokio, we stopped to witness a mil- 
itary execution of three criminals. They were beheaded, 
but before this operation they sat down very cheerfully 
and gambled for each other's effects, clothes, etc., and 
when this was over and they were ready, they knelt on 
the ground at a distance of about ten feet apart. Their 
eyes were bandaged, their feet tied, and their hands also 
behind them. The execution was with a large sword, the 
blade of which must have been as keen as the keenest 
razor. For these old swords were of the highest quality 
of steel and the makers of them in feudal times in old 
Nippon were highly honored men. In front of the crim- 
inals there was a small hole dug, the sod turned back 
just beneath the neck of the doomed man, and the execu- 
tioner passed along from one to the other, and before 
you could say "Jack Robinson" the three heads were off 
and the blood spurting into the hole in the ground be- 
neath. Attendants picked up these heads, held them 
aloft, and the chief officer made some remarks, probably 
to show that the law had been carried out, and these 
with the bodies were put in rough bamboo baskets and 
carted off. The ground where the execution took place, 
being covered over with earth and sod in a few minutes, 
gave no evidence of any transaction such as we had seen. 
When the party was ready, we were notified by the 
officers of the Minister of War, Sawa, through inter- 
preter. We proceeded by jinrikisha, or man horse-power, 
this being the universal means of transit in the capital and 

87 



China and Japan 

other cities of Japan at that time. They were a kind of 
two-wheeled carriage in which two persons could sit over 
the center of gravity, and the betto, or man who pulls it, 
is in the shafts in front. It is wonderful how much 
ground they can cover in a short time and how pleasantly 
they move about. On arriving at the imperial grounds 
we passed in over a moat and drawbridge, two heavily 
armored gates on either side and guards all about armed 
with two swords, and some of them had muskets of 
modern date. Some of the Japanese officers were dressed 
in uniform with a profusion of gold lace. The grounds 
were most magnificently cultivated, with all sorts of 
flowers and flowering trees, the camellia trees being as 
large as our buckeye and Norway maples here; and as 
the Japanese are the finest florists and horticulturists in 
the world, and as hundreds of years had been spent in 
adorning these grounds, they were in the most beautiful 
attire. As we reached the palace all the suite, with the 
admiral at the head, the United States Minister and the 
junior officers at the rear, passed in between guards, all 
of whom seemed as impassive and immovable as iron 
posts. We were shown into an anteroom, where we had 
to wait quite a little while. Finally the doors of an inner 
room were opened and the minister, through an inter- 
preter, presented the admiral and each one of us in suc- 
cession to his Imperial Majesty Mutsuhito, the Emperor 
of Dai Nippon, the Mikado. It will be recalled that a 
few years before, the rebellion took place and the old 
Tycoonate passed away and the Mikado became the ruler 
of Japan. The latter appeared sitting to be much taller 
than the average Japanese, probably about five feet nine 
or ten inches. He could not be called handsome, though 
he had a pleasing and dignified look ; a fine open face and 
high forehead, but with a large sensual mouth which de- 
tracted from its perfection. His hair and eyes were 
black, the former brushed up into a knot and concealed 
by a head-dress called the ka-mu-ra, which all the royal 
blood wore ; this was fastened bv a band around his fore- 



China and Japan 

head and had two black top knots or plumes, standing up 
about six inches and falling over gracefully backward; 
it appeared to be made of crape and lacquered over. His 
dress was a loose-flowing robe of brown silk, and his 
hands and arms were enveloped in its numerous folds; 
his trousers, or ha-ka-mas, were of lighter color, loose 
also, and extending below the knee ; his feet were encased 
in white stockings that only reached to the ankle; from 
this to where the ha-ka-mas extended, a short distance, 
was bare, and his royal skin (give me a prettier word, as 
some one says, and I'll use it) looked clean but tawny. 
He wore sandals confined to the foot by a light strap 
crossing on the instep and passing between the great and 
second toes. A heavy gold chain over the neck and enter- 
ing the recesses of his robe was the only ornament that 
he wore; the robe was marked with his crest and the 
royal chrysanthemum in the figures of the material. We 
retired as soon as the interview was over, backing out of 
the presence of his Imperial Majesty, as was the eti- 
quette. 

The Tycoon was still living at this time not far from 
Tokio, being maintained by the Government. He was 
head of what was known as the Tokugawa Clan and, 
with the Mikado, they and their ancestors ruled Japan in 
a sort of dual government for thousands of years. This 
passed away with a rebellion. Since then Japan has 
made the wonderful strides known to all the world. It 
is only a few years ago since Mutsuhito died. This was 
said to be, and no doubt was, the second interview that 
was granted to European officials by the Emperor at the 
beginning of the new system in Japan. The remainder 
of the day was spent in viewing the many curious and 
interesting things around the imperial gardens and in the 
various offices of the heads of departments. In the even- 
ing we were given a dinner at the Hama-goten, or Gov- 
ernment House, by the Minister of War, Sawa. There 
were two sets of courses, the Japanese dinner and the 
European one. After the dinner, which was very elab- 

89 



China and Japan 

orate, we were entertained by a beautiful performance 
of the Geisha girls. The corps which performed for us 
being the finest in the empire, they were dressed in the 
full Japanese attire mostly and very ornate robes. The 
only remembrance which I have of it is that there was 
a great deal of gold thread shot through the various 
dresses and sashes they wore. They sang and played 
upon the saimsens, or an instrument somewhat like a 
violin, but there was no comparison to any music that I 
had ever heard before, only a kind of sing-song drooning 
and thrumming of the instruments. We were trans- 
ported to our quarters in the city after the entertainment, 
and in every way thoroughly enjoyed the episode. It 
was not only its being unique, but quite historic. The 
most of us spent the next few days in visiting points of 
interest about the great city of Tokio. It was very much 
then as it had been in olden times, as the modern hand 
had not been at work upon the streets or edifices. Many 
of the old palaces and houses of the Daimios and princes 
with their retainers, who came annually to the capital to 
pay their respects to their sovereign, were still standing 
and took up much ground in the city. Tokio must have 
contained at that time nearly a million people, the stores, 
the market houses, the shops, and the temples and streets 
were crowded with men, women and children running 
about making much clatter with their wooden shoes, 
which they slip off when they go to enter one of their 
houses, as these latter were highly decorated and the 
floors lacquered, shining like a Nubian's face. We re- 
turned to Yokohama and our vessel by the same road we 
had traversed on our trip to Tokio. 

It would take quite a large book to cover all the inci- 
dents that I saw or experienced in China and Japan, and. 
as I stated before, I am only culling out that which I 
think will be the most readable. With a party of officers 
I made one visit of over ten days into the interior of the 
island, visiting the hot springs of Hakone, the old capital 
at Nikko, and made the ascent of the peerless mountain 

90 



China and Japan 

Fuji-Yama. This is the mountain that is held sacred 
almost by all Japanese, and appears in nearly all the 
decorative art of the kingdom for many years past and 
at present. It rises from a plain to a height of over thir- 
teen thousand feet. It took us two days to accomplish 
the ascent, and we were well repaid for our trouble by 
the magnificent views we saw from the summit and in- 
termediate points. We measured the mountain baro- 
metrically. It was August 5, 1871, when we were on 
the summit, and the snow, which remains for a number 
of months after the winter, had almost entirely disap- 
peared. The crater in places fumes and sputters a little, 
but it is practically extinct. There is a half-way house as 
you go up the mountain and a temple near the top. Here 
certain votaries of the Shintoo faith visit the priests and 
are supposed to receive a kind of absolution, as they 
change their clothing to white before they descend the 
mountain. 

Shortly after our return from this trip we went 
through the most thrilling experience of all that I en- 
countered during my stay in the East. For a number of 
days in August the weather had been intensely hot, the 
thermometer often one hundred and ten degrees in the 
shade. Although we had a wooden roof on our vessel 
and awnings spread and the deck sprinkled from time to 
time, the heat was almost unbearable; all labor and ex- 
ercises were suspended. Toward the close of the hot 
spell the weather became murky, the sky overcast, and 
peculiar greasy gray clouds were chasing each other over 
the sky. The barometer was falling slowly but steadily, 
and we all saw the approach of the dreaded typhoon or 
East Indian hurricane. We made all preparations for it 
in the way of double lashing the guns, veering our an- 
chor chains to almost full length, lashing everything 
movable about the decks, and battening down the hatches. 
On August 24th the storm began to arise. The wind 
came with increasing velocity and there was a peculiar 
soughing in the air. Toward evening it became very 

91 



China and Japan 

dark, the sky as black as ink, and the force of the winds 
still increasing. The typhoon is a fearful storm, a cir- 
cular one, and the wind blows in one direction half the 
time and then changes in a few moments and goes out 
directly in the opposite quarter. As the morning of the 
25th of August broke and daylight, or as much of day- 
light as there was, came we could see by all the indica- 
tions that the vortex of the storm was passing not very 
far distant. The barometer began to fall with frightful 
rapidity as if bewitched, moving up and down with 
irregular jerks, showing the disturbed state of the at- 
mosphere. The executive officers and I were at our 
stations under the break of the afterdeck and the staff 
officers were below in the wardroom, the men forward 
under the forecastle or on the gundeck. The singular 
gyrations of the clouds were something that one had 
never seen before in a storm, and the terrific roar and 
force of the wind was so great as to pick up the sea and 
carry it along with it. The air was filled with salt spray, 
and so great was the power of it that it was impossible 
to show your head or face above the hammock rail of 
the ship. 

Captain Watson was in the cabin and only came out 
occasionally to make some slight remark about the storm 
or anchors and chains, as we were evidently drifting 
with every send of the sea and power of the wind. The 
latter would rise and fall in the most unearthly sort of 
sounds, and it was impossible at the height of the 
typhoon to hear a word unless it was bellowed into your 
ear by some one close to you. I had often joked with 
an officer who had experienced a typhoon and told him 
that I thought they were no more severe than the origi- 
nal winter gales of the Atlantic or the South Indian 
Ocean. The only reply was, "You have got to go 
through one to know what it is." At the very climax 
of the storm this officer turned to me, putting his mouth 
close to my ear, and said, "Now, Jack, d — n it, don't you 
believe it can blow some?" I had no answer to make, 

92 



China and Japan 

for the conditions were sufficient and we were all very 
quiet, for the danger of our getting entangled with some 
other vessel or the wooden roof of our vessel breaking off 
or the vessel itself breaking and going to pieces was 
imminent. 

Suddenly the great wind ceased and all became abso- 
lutely calm, and it was then that we experienced the 
greatest danger, for with the power and force of the 
wind the sea began to run and rise and great waves 
mountain high came rolling aboard the vessel, tossing 
and pitching us in every direction. We had life lines 
along the deck and every precaution had been taken iij 
advance, yet there was nothing that could be done but 
simply hold on and look at the frightful exhibition of 
Nature. In a little while the wind came from directly 
the opposite direction from which it had been blowing 
and with about the same velocity opened upon us again, 
but with diminishing force, and in a few hours it blew 
itself out. The sea began to quiet down, the sky began 
to clear up and, as the harbor became visible, a light 
broke everywhere with the clearing storm and the rav- 
ages of the typhoon could be observed. Our own vessel 
had drifted many hundred yards. A short distance fur- 
ther, had the wind not changed, we would have been on 
the beaph. The whole beach was strewn with wrecks of 
junks, sailing vessels, boats, and one or two smaller 
national vessels had gone ashore. Here and there we 
could see some ships that had been in trouble, their 
masts blown away or other damage done to them. With 
a glass you could see on shore that the storm had swept 
away many of the buildings, picked up the small wooden 
cottages of the Japanese and practically scattered them 
to the four winds of heaven. As we studied our own 
vessel we could see, stanch though she was, that a little 
longer battering would have finished her, for the seams 
of the .decks were opened in many places and the lower 
decks were flooded with water; many of the great oak 
knees which braced the sides of the ship to the cross- 

93 



China and Japan 

beams were cracked in two, which must have required 
an enormous force. Visiting the shore shortly after- 
ward, the destruction wrought by the storm could be 
observed. Great trees were uprooted and houses were 
scattered everywhere, many persons were injured, and 
the whole countryside showed the fearful effects of the 
typhoon. By calculation the vortex of the typhoon must 
have passed within a few miles of Yokohama. 

Part of our amusement at Yokohama was in witness- 
ing the running races at the Japanese Race Club. We 
always enjoyed this pastime while in Shanghai, China. 
The Chinese mustang or pony is a very tough and fleet 
little animal, very vicious, but is capable of much endur- 
ance. These animals were used in the running races. 
There were large sums of money bet at all times and 
rich prizes given for the various races. We hired these 
mustangs at the livery stables and took rides out into the 
open country, and always found them very sure-footed 
and reliable. The Japanese curiosity stores of Yoko- 
hama were very interesting to visit on account of the 
many curios for sale there, many of them being bronzes 
and lacquerware and carved ivory pieces that had come 
down for hundreds of years -and were put up for sale 
by the owners. The prices were very reasonable consid- 
ering what they brought in this country. Of course, in 
the first dickers they always kept the figures up pretty 
well, but we managed to get them down to reasonable 
prices. The Japanese screens were beautiful objects of 
household decoration and some of them very valuable 
indeed. They are used a great deal in the houses of 
Japan and form the partitions or rooms, as most of the 
Japanese dwellings are first-floor houses and the divi- 
sions are made by means of these screens. In the 
houses of the more wealthy classes the elaborate work 
on some of these was certainly very ornate and beau- 
tiful. The dress of the old Japanese nobility, the Kuge 
class, and that of the Daimios and the Yakonins form 
a peculiarly interesting study. Many of the upper 

94 



China and Japan 

classes were changing to European dress, so the ancient 
suits and the armor, swords and weapons of attack and 
defense could be purchased for moderate prices. 

One of the institutions in Yokohama which had ex- 
isted for many years prior to Europe entering into the 
country, and which had been enlarged since this inva- 
sion, was the large Government brothel, Yoshi-Warru, 
or Jinkaro. There were at times as many as twenty-five 
thousand prostitutes in this institution all under Govern- 
ment supervision, and they were compelled to wear a cer- 
tain distinctive dress or badge, but very rarely permitted 
to go outside of the building where they lived. The 
lower class, the Japanese merchant, after he had made 
a considerable fortune for himself, which would be 
small in our estimation, but sufficient for him to retire 
on, if unmarried would select a wife from this institu- 
tion, preferring to have one from there on account of 
their knowledge and general information, which was 
greater than the ordinary Japanese woman. The Jap- 
anese woman, or "musme," as she is called, wears a 
"kimona," a double skirt which is lapped over in the 
front, and as the weather becomes colder, although it is 
never very cold, and snow and ice are quite rare, they 
increase the number of capes and skirts. Their obi or 
sash, which is very large and very wide, keeps the dress 
in proper order and together, coming up above the waist- 
line. It is tied on the side for an unmarried girl, and 
the bow is in front for a married woman. Widows or 
others wear the sash irregularly or in a bow behind. The 
"kimona" is a very universal dress and need not be de- 
scribed, as it has become quite popular in all countries. 
They wear no hat or cap, but fix their hair in an elabo- 
rate manner with pins made of jade or other precious 
stones and raised up high on the top of their heads. 
They are all small of stature, very neat and cleanly in all 
their attire, and bathe frequently; in fact, the bathhouse 
in Japan is the universal institution, and the most singu- 
lar thing about the country is that the sexes all bathe 

95 



China and Japan 

together in the same pool, but there is no irregularity or 
anything out of order in this bathing place, as it has been 
the custom of the country to do so for a thousand years 
or more. The water is conveyed to the pools often hot 
and cold in bamboo pipes from mountain springs, and 
runs off and is very clean and pleasant. 

In the early part of April, 1872, the flagship returned 
to Yokohama and all the other vessels of the squadron 
gathered there for general drill and inspection. Admiral 
John Rogers, of the Colorado, was relieved by Admiral 
Charles Baldwin, and there were a number of changes 
among the officers of the ship, details coming from the 
United States and those officers whose terms had expired 
going home. 

The fall of 1871 and spring of 1872 were spent in 
visiting various noted points in Japan. The country was 
rapidly becoming Europeanized and almost every 
steamer from the United States or from England and 
the continent brought prominent professors or officers of 
the army and navy out to give instructions in the schools 
and universities of the kingdom. One of the men who 
went to Japan in the early days and who did excellent 
work there was Dr. Hepburn, who was from the State 
of Pennsylvania and related to the family of which the 
law partner who was with my father belonged. He was 
a medical missionary and devoted most of his time to 
curing the Japanese of diseases of the eye, to which they 
were very much addicted, owing to careless treatment 
when they were children. He was very much beloved 
by the natives, and in his travels around the country 
was followed by crowds of people begging him to relieve 
them of their afflictions. He became thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the customs and the ways of the people, 
and wrote a dictionary of the spoken and written lan- 
guage. The Japanese language was not a difficult one 
to acquire. In point of fact, before I had left the coun- 
try I had learned to speak it myself with considerable 
fluency and often acted as interpreter for the officers of 

96 



China and Japan 

the vessel and the flagship and others. During the fall 
Frederick Grant, the son of General Grant, then Presi- 
dent of the United States, with one of his classmates, 
Wasson by name, came out on a mission to the country. 
He had just graduated from West Point and was then 
starting upon his military career. 

The Pacific Mail steamers ran monthly from San 
Francisco to Yokohama and were very fine, large and 
seaworthy vessels. Many tourists passed through Yoko- 
hama on their way around the world. A son of the poet 
Longfellow, Charles W. Longfellow, stopped at Yoko- 
hama and visited the capital and other points, and was 
so much taken with the country that he bought a house 
and settled down there. The Hon. E. Perine Smith, 
of Rochester, New York, one of the officers of the At- 
torney General's Department in Washington, and who 
was related by marriage in some way to Rudyard Kip- 
ling, the author, arrived in the spring of 1872 for the 
purpose of establishing a department of law at the 
capital, under the auspices of the Government. These 
officials who took service under the Mikado were all paid 
very large salaries. It was through this work that the 
Government was enabled to make such rapid and gigan- 
tic .strides. The fine coast guard and life-saving service, 
the lighthouses, and the mints established on the same 
principle as our United States mints were initiated in 
those years and the principal steps were taken to build 
up a fine large navy yard, the outcome of which you see 
to-day in the potential strength of the Mikado's fleet. 

A visit to the great statue Di-Butz was made in the 
spring of 1871. This is an enormous bronze statue of 
the god Buddha, and was erected several hundred years 
before any foreigners entered Japan. It was a sort of 
Mecca for the Buddhists of the country, who paid tribute 
to the priests who officiated in the temples in the neigh- 
borhood of this monument to that wonderful faith that 
extended all over the East, and to which millions paid 
reverent devotion. Yokohama was settled shortly after 

97 



China and Japan 

Perry's expedition opened up the country. The landing 
made by Perry was at Kana-gawa a small place on the 
coast near Yokohama, but the better harbor facilities at 
the latter place made its rise more immediate. It was 
only a few years ago that the semi-centennial of the 
landing of Perry was celebrated at this place with ap- 
propriate ceremony by the Mikado and our minister and 
officials of the United States Government. There was a 
monument which was dedicated at that time to com- 
memorate the historic event of Perry. Only lately I 
have read with the greatest pleasure the books of Laf- 
cadio Hearn, who took up a residence in Japan, married 
a native there and raised a family, and whose knowledge 
of the country and people and insight into their ways 
and language and religion was more intimate and pene- 
trating than any other person who ever visited that coun- 
try. I would advise any one who is interested in the 
empire and desirous to grasp the peculiar mysteries of 
the country, and particularly the deeply religious side of 
it and the bearing this has on the physical government 
of the empire, to read these books. Lafcadio Hearn was 
a mystic himself and fitted by education and travel for 
the work that he did in Japan. 

In leaving the country in 1872, I did so with great 
regret, as I had begun to understand the people, and the 
study I made of the Government and its ways and its 
relation to those who served under it was a pleasant 
diversion, and I would have been glad to have continued 
it. I was offered a position under the Japanese Govern- 
ment with a salary of ten thousand dollars a year, which 
probably would have been increased, but it required a 
contract of three years' service, and as I had been away 
from home for quite a long season, I declined the gen- 
erous offer, although it would have been in a line of 
service that would have permitted me to gain an insight 
into the Japanese that I could not have gained in any 
other way. The best authorities on the Japanese king- 
dom in my judgment are Hepburn, the medical mission- 

98 



China and Japan 

ary ; the Rev. Dr. Griffith, who had been some time there 
as a teacher for a Japanese prince, and Lafcadio Heam. 
Of course there are many others who have written scat- 
tered works about the kingdom, but the most of them 
have been inaccurate, disconnected and scarcely worth 
perusal. 



99 



CHAPTER VII 

HOMEWARD BOUND SUNSET SLOPE AND THE GREAT WEST 

Each man's chimney is his Golden Milestone ; 
Is the central point, from which he measures 
Every distance 

Through the gateways of the world around him. 

— Longfellow. 

My return to the United States, by way of the Pa- 
cific Mail steamship America, was in May, 1872, and 
was not voluntary upon my part. The circumstances re- 
quire some little detail. It will be noted that at this time, 
under the treaty rights between our country and Japan^ 
we had extra-territorial privileges. In other words our 
ministers, consuls and commercial agents had supreme 
control over the subjects of the United States, and for 
all crimes committed or misdemeanors of any kind the 
Consular Court was the tribunal that had jurisdiction. 
The consular system throughout the East, so far as I 
could get a view of it during my stay there, was rotten 
to say the least, and many officials sent out to fill these 
positions were simply "grafters" of the very worst kind, 
although the word "graft" had not then found its way 
into the English language. Some even sold the Ameri- 
can flag to Chinese junks and Japanese merchants for 
the purpose of trading under it, and nearly all of them 
utilized their official position for gain, and a number of 
them went home with considerable money to their credit. 
Since then there has been a reorganization of all these 
things and a stated inspection, and a great improvement 
has taken place. 

As navigating officer of the Idaho, I had control of 
the mail, and would attend to having the boat sent to 
the steamer as soon as one arrived from the United 
States or other countries, and would take it thence to 
the Consulate after I had delivered the mail for our 
vessels, if any were in the harbor. The Vice-Consul 

101 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

of the United States, who was a man named Wilson, 
from Buffalo, New York, I believe, an ignorant and 
conceited pot-house politician, who had no more quali- 
fications for his position than a Chinese idol, was in 
the habit of putting on many airs of authority, by rea- 
son of his position. He and other officers of the Con- 
sulate were engaged in running a gambling house, and 
the man who did the personal work of dealing was a 
gambler named Livermore, who had left California 
some years before under some sort of a cloud, but was 
a very bright and rather intellectual fellow. There was 
no doubt that the money to conduct the place was fur- 
nished by the officers of the Consulate, as the marshal 
of the Consulate was a man named Morrison, and he 
was the doorkeeper, major domo, of the establishment. 
It was a very lucrative business, because it was not con- 
ducted squarely, and many officers of our fleet and the 
foreign fleets there and some of the richer natives, Chi- 
nese and Japanese, frequented the house and took part in 
the game. It was always crowded in the evenings, and 
one night shortly before I left Japan there was some 
altercation between the persons running the game and 
those playing, on account of the dealer being caught in 
the act of cheating. There was a free fight and every- 
thing in the place was smashed up. I recollect that I 
caught the chandelier and with one twist I put the whole 
place into darkness as black as twelve midnights. The 
result was that nearly everything in the gambling hell 
was smashed up and for a while the game was inter- 
rupted, but later on it was opened up under the same 
auspices, and I presume the revenue as usual went as 
"graft" to "Uncle Sam's" officials there. 

Vice-Consul Wilson, among other things, demanded 
that we should lower a boat whenever he wanted one, 
send the consular mail as he wished, and particularly to 
have the whole mail sent to the Consulate before deliv- 
ery aboard any of the ships. The State Department and 
the Navy Department being entirely independent of each 

102 



Homezvard Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

other, orders were issued to refuse his demand. Of 
course, there was a great deal of friction between us and 
we were constantly at odds. 

One evening, when ashore with some other officers, 
we were playing billiards in the hotel in Yokohama, 
when we got into some altercation with the waiter or 
servant who counted the marks on the string, and I 
struck him over the head with a cue. He made a com- 
plaint to the Vice-Consul, and the result of this was that 
Wilson made charges against me to the commanding 
officer. As I had gone ashore without asking leave, this 
fact was the only thing that really came up against me, 
but it was sufficient, because the regulations were very 
strict about our leaving the ship without any commis- 
sioned officer in command. The Vice-Consul charged 
that we all were under the influence of liquor, and also 
brought charges of assault and battery against me by 
the native. I paid no attention to the hearing in the 
consular office, but a transcript of the charges was sent 
to the admiral after the flagship got to Yokohama, and 
the result was that a board convened and three charges 
were heard. Admiral Baldwin presided at the court. 
They were looked upon by all the officers as venial 
charges, but the violation of the regulation in going 
there without leave, or taking "French leave." as it is 
called, had to be recognized in some way, and the result 
was that the board brought in a verdict that I be sus- 
pended for one year on half pay and be reprimanded in 
general orders by the Secretary of the Navy. The 
charges of being under the influence of liquor and the 
assault on the native were both ignored, and the only 
recognized article in the suspension made was the one 
concerning taking "French leave." 

The result of this was that I left Japan sooner than I 
would otherwise have done. My orders were to proceed 
via San Francisco to the Isthmus of Panama, to New 
York City, and then report to the Secretary of the Navy. 
I was furnished by the paymaster with a ticket on the 

103 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

Pacific Mail steamship America to San Francisco, and 
also one from San Francisco by way of Panama to New 
York. At that time, although the law said distinctly that 
officers traveling under orders were entitled to ten cents 
a mile, there was a fever of economy going over the 
Department, and the Comptroller of the Currency, a 
man by the name of Lawrence, was endeavoring to keep 
down the expenses of officers of the navy in this way by 
furnishing them transportation instead of giving them 
ten cents a mile, to which they were legally entitled. 
There was a curious sequel to this. A number of other 
officers who had been furnished transportation from 
various ships in Europe and other places combined to- 
gether and placed their claims, under the law at ten cents 
a mile, in the hands of a claim agent in Washington, 
who took the matter up and carried it successfully 
through the Court of Claims and had Congress appro- 
priate the money at various times for the payment of 
them, but unfortunately for us the two Houses did not 
report the appropriation at the same time, and it did not 
become a law for a long time afterward. 

In justice to all those officers, the Hon Samuel J. 
Randall took the matter up and pressed it successfully 
through the House, and Senator Cameron carried it 
through the Senate, and it was signed in the appropria- 
tion bill by the President. The result of this was that 
sixteen years after I left Japan, when at the polls watch- 
ing the vote cast for Congressman when I was on the 
ticket, my daughter brought me my mail, and in it was 
a large envelope with a United States Treasury draft for 
two hundred and ninety dollars, the difference between 
the ticket furnished me by the paymaster when I left 
Japan and the amount from Yokohama to New York 
calculated on the voyage at the rate of ten cents per mile. 
This illustrates with what celerity the United States 
pushes certain claims. 

I had a very pleasant voyage across the North Pacific 
Ocean to San Francisco, the route being over the great 

104 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

Circle Line to San Francisco, and there was hardly a day 
when a glass filled with water on the table would have 
lost a drop. It was with a thrill of patriotism that we 
passed the Farrellones Island and the lighthouse and 
entered the Golden Gate at San Francisco, once more 
back in God's own country. I spent about two weeks in 
and about San Francisco. The officer who came over 
with me, Lieutenant Commander Wheeler, was the flag 
lieutenant of Admiral John Rodgers, and had been or- 
dered home. He was a very estimable officer and after- 
ward died of yellow fever on the African coast, still in 
the line of his duty. With the party were two English 
officers, ordered home by way of the United States. 
Among the latter there was a marine officer by the name 
of St. John, who was always called "Sinjin." He was 
a most powerful and athletic fellow, a perfect specimen 
of physical development in every way, and it was very 
fortunate that he was so, because in going around 
"Frisco" one evening we visited the La Belle Union, a 
dance house and sort of vaudeville affair. Our party had 
been indulging in festivities and some of them were con- 
siderably elated, and the upshot was a fracas broke out. 
Some of the toughs or hoodlums of the city attacked us. 
and had it not been for the vigorous work of our friend, 
the British marine officer "Sinjin," whom I saw knock 
down and out four or five of them in succession, our 
crowd would probably have been pretty well cleaned up. 

President Baldwin, of the Bank of California, who 
was then in the height of his career as a financier, and 
who had a beautiful country place some fifteen miles 
below the city, sent us all invitations to visit it, which 
we did, and everything was put at our disposal — horses, 
conveyances and servants. We spent several days there 
very pleasantly, and I took a run down to the Yosemite 
Valley to see the great monster sequoias or giant trees. 

The weather was very warm for the season and I 
dreaded the passage around by the Isthmus of Panama, 
so I sold my ticket by that route for one hundred dollars, 

105 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

receiving five twenty-dollar gold pieces, and these I 
turned into greenbacks, receiving thirty-three cents for 
every gold dollar, that being the rate at that time before 
resumption had gone into effect. The Navy Yard, 
United States Mint and other places of interest in San 
Francisco were all visited, together with the Bank of 
California. 

I spoke in a former chapter of the Mexican dollars 
being separated into first chop, second chop and third 
chop, according to the amount of the abrasion. These 
silver dollars were used a great deal at that time on the 
Sunset Slope. In the banks of California they had a 
corps of Chinese accountants, or "schroffs," as they were 
called, who had an adept way of throwing these Mexi- 
can dollars up on their fingers and telling in a moment 
whether they were one, two, or three rate, casting them 
into receptacles according to their value. Thousands of 
them would be thus separated by these Chinese account- 
ants in a very short time. No machine could have done 
it more scientifically or more accurately. 

I left for Denver, and remained a short time in this 
latter city, which was then a small place, and from there 
I went to Georgetown, Colorado, where I found my old 
classmate and schoolmate, who was with me at Amherst 
College, Robert Stewart Morrison. He was practicing 
law in that town and had a fair clientage, although not 
long in the place. I also met another old Pittsburgh 
friend and schoolmate, Henry Campbell, who is still 
alive, I believe, at Sewickley. My friend Morrison was 
engaged to be married to a girl of Spanish parentage, 
and I promised him that I would go to his wedding, 
which he had set for the next year. Among other per- 
sons I met in Colorado at that time was Edgar O. Wol- 
cott, of Massachusetts, who was just out of college and 
starting in business in that Territory, Colorado not be- 
coming a State until 1876, being the Centennial State. 
Wolcott succeeded very well both financially and politi- 
cally and represented the State afterward in the United 

106 



Homeivard Bound — Sufiset Slope and the Great West 

States Senate with great ability. I met him a number 
of times in Washington, and also at the RepubHcan con- 
vention of 1900 in Philadelphia, when McKinley was 
renominated and Theodore Roosevelt was nominated for 
Vice-President. Wolcott was temporary president of 
that convention. I had a number of opportunities to go 
into the mining business at that time in Colorado. 
Cripple Creek, which was not far from Georgetown, had 
not then been discovered. Denver was little more than 
a scattered village. 

After leaving Denver I crossed the plains and could 
see from the car much game, many prairie dogs, some 
antelope and droves of buffalo. The latter sometimes 
were so close as to be shot from the trains. All this has 
disappeared with the advance in civilization in the West. 
I arrived in Pittsburgh July 9, 1872, and met my mother, 
whom I had not seen for over two years. After a 
.short stay there I went to Philadelphia and saw my 
esteemed friend, since dead, ex-Sheriff Henry C. Howell. 
I received letters of introduction from him and from 
Senator Cattell, of New Jersey, to the Hon. George M. 
Robeson, Secretary of the Navy, and went to Washing- 
ton, where I reported officially to the Department and saw 
Mr. Robeson. He reviewed the records of the court- 
martial in Yokohama and read my letters of introduc- 
tion to him, and said it was hardly worth while to issue 
any reprimand, that the record of the court itself was 
sufficient for that purpose, and hoped I might have a 
pleasant sojourn home. 

The summer of 1872 was spent partly at a summer re- 
sort in northern central Pennsylvania called Ralston, 
where my aunt and cousins were sojourning. The fol- 
lowing winter and spring of 1873 I was in Pittsburgh 
and Allegheny most of the time, and attended the wed- 
dings of a number of my friends there, being in demand 
as a naval officer for groomsman or best man. One 
noted wedding was that of Lieutenant Calbraith Perry 
Rodgers, a relative of Admiral John Rodgers, with 

107 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

whom I had sailed in the Orient. He wedded Miss 
Lizzie Chambers, a most beautiful girl, whose father was 
a prominent glass manufacturer of the city, and whose 
brother, Mr. James A. Chambers, is still living there and 
a member of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Canal Com- 
mission. It was the swell wedding of the winter and took 
place at the beautiful residence of the parents of the 
bride in the East End. Lieutenant Rodgers was a cav- 
alry officer on recruiting duty, then stationed at the 
United States arsenal in Pittsburgh. Afterward, on 
service on the plains, standing outside of his tent during 
a thunder storm, he was struck by lightning and killed. 
His widow resides, I think, in Washington. We saw a 
great deal of her and his children during our stay in the 
Capital. It was young Calbraith P. Rodgers, his son, 
the aviator who first crossed the continent and who met 
with his death in this business near Brooklyn, New York, 
a short time ago. 

Another noted wedding in Trinity Church was that of 
T. Chal Clarkson, who wedded one of the most promi- 
nent society ladies of Pittsburgh, a Miss Zug. The 
father of the latter, Christopher Zug, was a pioneer in 
and one of the most prominent iron and steel manufac- 
turers of the Iron and Smoky City. It appeared to me 
that nearly all that I did that winter and spring was to 
go to weddings or other social affairs, and my involun- 
tary leave was spent with much pleasure until the 1st of 
June, and before then I applied for orders to the United 
States steamer Michigan, a vessel located at Erie, Penn- 
sylvania, which in the summer months spent most of 
her time between that city and Chicago in cruising over 
the Northern Lakes. She was maintained there under 
the provisions of a treaty made in 1841 between Eng- 
land and this country which permitted the maintenance 
of one vessel of each Government, carrying a certain 
number of guns, on the Great Lakes. This was the cele- 
brated treaty negotiated by Daniel Webster with Lord 
Ashburton (one of the Barings), the British minister, 

108 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

in which our northern boundary line was remodified to 
our advantage, and so favorable was it to this country 
that English diplomatists and public men spoke of it as 
the "Ashburton capitulation." 

I reported for duty aboard the United States steamer 
Michigan the 1st of June, 1873, to Commander George 
Brown, later admiral in the navy, of Indianapolis, In- 
diana. The cruise of the summer was taken to the 
watering place of Put-in-Bay, where on the island oi 
Gibraltar was the beautiful palace of Jay Cooke, of Phil- 
adelphia, who financed the Government in the latter days 
of the Civil War. Thence we went to Detroit through 
the straits and up to the Straits of Mackinaw and down 
Lake Michigan to the great city of Chicago. During my 
stay in the East the great fire had ravaged the latter city 
and laid most of it in ashes. The wreckage and relics of 
the catastrophe were then everywhere apparent. Still 
the energy and grit of the people were evident in the 
rapidity with which they were beginning to recuperate 
and rebuild the city. 

In the summer of 1872, on my return from my outing 
in the East, I stopped off at Altoona to get supper at the 
Logan House, the usual point for stoppage of trains. 
While there I met some Pittsburgh friends, the late Dal- 
las Wilkins and his brother, William Wilkins, both now 
deceased, and a party with them from Cresson Springs. 
They urged me to spend a while at this resort, as there 
were quite a number of Pittsburghers at the place. Not 
having anything to do until the fall, I remained at Cres- 
son Springs for several weeks. It was there I first met 
my wife, then Miss Elizabeth Waddingham Gilpin. She 
was visiting her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. W. 
Dewees Wood, who had a cottage there, and the result 
of this was the romance which ended in my marriage in 
1874. Miss Gilpin had been raised in St. Louis, at the 
home of the Misses Douthetts, who were formerly Pitts- 
burghers. One of these ladies married the flour manu- 
facturer of St. Louis, Mr. George Plant, and the other 

109 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

the Rev. Dr. Clinton Locke, of the Episcopal Church. 
When the MicJiigan arrived at Chicago Dr. Locke was 
in charge of the Wabash Avenue Episcopal Church, one 
of the leading positions in the clergy of that city, and 
they resided on Prairie Avenue. Miss Gilpin was visit- 
ing them at the time. They entertained the officers of 
the Michigan at a reception one evening, and we re- 
turned the compliment by an entertainment aboard the 
vessel. On the return of the Michigan to Erie Dr. 
Locke was my guest aboard ship as far as Cleveland, 
where he left the vessel to go to Philadelphia to the tri- 
ennial convention of his church, and a very ludicrous 
incident occurred at Put-in-Bay while the vessel was on 
this voyage. We were celebrating the birthday of Dr. 
Locke in the wardroom, the table being under the main 
hatch of the vessel. It was a warm day and the wind- 
sails were set. These are large canvas shoots with arms 
both to be turned in the direction of the wind, and in this 
way convey it down to the lower deck of the vessel for 
ventilation. While we were getting ready for dinner, a 
brass band from the shore that had been with an excur- 
sion party from Cleveland came aboard the ship to play 
for us, and one of the German musicians who was play- 
ing a horn near the main hatch leaned back against the 
windsail, thinking it was a mast probably, as they are 
very strong when the wind is blowing fresh. The result 
was that he fell down the hatch and landed in the center 
of the dinner table. We were all very much surprised to 
see the German musician come to dine with us in this 
unceremonious way, and when we realized the full force 
of the incident, it certainly was as much as we could do 
to keep from breaking our sides with laughter. 

At all the places where the Michigan stopped we were 
well received, and many visitors would come aboard the 
vessel to inspect her. We returned to Erie, where she 
usually laid up during the winter months. About the 
latter part of September I took a short leave to Pitts- 
burgh, and on my return the vessel was housed and got- 

110 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

ten into condition for winter quarters. I had taken 
rooms in the town of Erie with one of the marine offi- 
cers, expecting to spend the following winter in that 
place. Erie had always been a very favorite place for 
naval officers on account of it being headquarters for 
this vessel, and a great many naval officers had married 
in that town. The celebrated Captain Gridley, who was 
Dewey's executive officer at the Manila Bay fight, was 
one of those who wedded in this city. He has since died, 
and there is a fine monument in the town to commemo- 
rate his victory in the Philippines, with the inscription. 
"You may fire when you are ready, Mr. Gridley." 

All my plans were changed by receiving orders from 
the Navy Department to join the United States sloop of 
war Juniata. About December 1st I went to New York 
and reported to Captain Daniel L. Braine, the command- 
ing officer, who afterward rose to the rank of admiral. 
The executive officer of the vessel was Lieutenant George 
W. De Long, famous afterward in the fated Jeannette 
Polar expedition and who was lost with one of my class- 
mates, Charles H. Chipp, who had also been one of my 
room-mates at the Naval Academy, and who was a watch 
officer on the Juniata at this time. After the loss of the 
Jeahette in the polar ice three of her boats sailed across 
the open sea to the delta of the Lena River, and on this 
voyage Chipp's boat with all on board was lost. Ad- 
miral Melville's boat reached the Siberian coast, and so 
did the boat of the commanding officer. George W. De 
Long. Fortunately for Melville's party, and unfortu- 
nately for De Long, the former struck a village of na- 
tives but De Long was lost with all but two of his men. 
whom he sent forward to try and seek relief, the story 
of which has been recorded in two noted books, one 
written by Admiral Melville and the other by Mrs. 
George W. De Long. 

Prior to my joining the Juniata our Government had 
had trouble with Spain from the capture of the steamer 
Virginius by the Spanish man-of-war Tornado. The Vir- 

111 



Homeivard Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

ginius was commanded by Captain Frye and had a party 
of revolutionists aboard who were attempting to land 
and aid the rebels in Cuba, but was sighted by the Tor- 
nado, chased and captured before she could reach a neu- 
tral port in Jamaica. The Spanish authorities took the 
Virginius into Santiago, and they were tried by drum- 
head court-martial. Captain Frye, with the leading offi- 
cers, were stood up against the wall and shot, and a sec- 
ond batch of them were treated to a similar fate, when a 
British vessel commanded by Captain Lamberton came 
into the harbor and protested against the barbarity of 
the action of the Spanish authorities in Cuba. The re- 
sult was a suspension of the executions. This was the 
reason for the haste in fitting out the Juniata, and we 
left New York under sealed orders. 

I hardly had time in the city to purchase a sufficient 
quantity of light clothing for use in Cuba and was un- 
able to get my effects from Erie, so aside from the uni- 
form and clothes on my back and a few articles that I 
purchased in New York, I left with the Juniata in rather 
scant "attire. I was one of the deck officers and the voy- 
age was a very pleasant one. When we arrived at the 
opening of the harbor of Santiago, since made so famous 
by Hobson's exploit in the Merrimac and the battle of 
Sampson and Schley with Cervera's fleet, we entered, 
having been at sea for a number of days without com- 
munication with any outside sources of information, as 
there was no such thing as wireless in those days. We 
were all in shape for action when we took aboard a 
pilot and started to go into the harbor and passed Morro 
Castle. Every man was at his station, the guns were 
"cast loose and provided" with shot and shell, and the 
captains of the guns were at the locksprings. I was sent 
aloft by Commander Braine to make a sketch of Morro 
battery and to try and fix the number and caliber of 
guns there. 

We did not know whether war had been declared or 
not. However, we soon found out. As we went into 

112 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great IV est 

the harbor, which opens out into a fine anchorage, passed 
the town and exchanged the usual official courtesies with 
the Spanish authorities and the representatives of the 
Governor General, it was ascertained that our Govern- 
ment had made an arrangement with the Spanish au- 
thorities and that Secretary Fish had demanded the re- 
turn of the rest of the prisoners of the Virginius to our 
vessel, with a salute to our flag as an apology for the 
execution of the two batches of prisoners first brought 
in by the Tornado. While we were there the United 
States ship Wyoming, commanded by Captain Gushing, 
the celebrated officer who sunk the Albemarle in the 
Civil War, arrived. This vessel had been ordered from 
Panama at the outbreak of the Virginius imbroglio, but 
being a very slow sailer, she did not reach Santiago until 
after we did. 

The morning of the day that we were to leave we 
dropped down off Morro Castle, the Spanish authorities 
brought the prisoners aboard the Virginius in rafts and 
they were housed on board the deck as well as we could 
place them, the Stars and Stripes were run up to the 
three mast heads and a salute of twenty-one guns was 
fired by the Spanish fort, which we returned in kind, and 
then we steamed out. bidding adieu to Cuba, the "ever 
faithful isle." which a quarter of a century later passed 
out of the hands of the Spanish and her red and yellow 
flag ceased to fly anywhere on this side of the Atlantic. 

Undoubtedly we would have gone to war with Spain 
at that time had our navy been in condition to justify it, 
but President Grant and Secretary Hamilton Fish of the 
State Department, as well as the naval authorities, knew 
that we were hardly a match for Spain, and all we could 
do then was to bluff the Spaniards, which we did suc- 
cessfully. Admiral Porter, when asked at this time as 
to our efficiency, said the United States Navy of to-day 
consists of "officers and water." We had been expect- 
ing Captain Strong and the Canandaigiia, of the Euro- 
pean squadron, to come in any day. as they also had been 

113 



Homeward Bound — Sunset Slope and the Great West 

ordered to Cuba. Captain Strong's rank was command- 
ing officer, and we feared that he would order us to re- 
main and that he would take the prisoners home in his 
vessel, as it would give them an opportunity of return- 
ing to the United States. There is quite a little story 
about this. As we steamed out toward Point Maysi. the 
eastern end of the island, which is the sea route taken to 
get to the North, I had the morning watch. It was 
rather misty, but the quartermaster reported to me that 
there was a long low vessel flying the American flag and 
trying to signal us, some distance away. As I was then 
engaged to be married and wanted to get back to the 
United States as quickly as possible, like Lord Nelson at 
the battle of Copenhagen, when he put the telescope to 
his blind eye, I did not hear what the quartermaster re- 
ported to me, nor did I report it to our commanding 
officer, who was then in the cabin asleep, all of which 
was probably my duty to do, but duty and love are some- 
times at variance, and this time Cupid conquered. We 
soon got around Cape Maysi and pointed our nose 
toward New York City. We were overcrowded and the 
vessel very dirty, on account of the prisoners. Off 
Hatteras Christmas morning, December 25, 1873, we 
had a terrific winter gale ; had to "lay to" for a number 
of hours with hatches battened down and everything "taut 
and snug." We could prepare nothing but coffee and rice, 
and this we ate in tin pans on the wardroom floor on 
tarpaulins. On December 30th we sighted Sandy Hook 
and Neversink and passed up off the Battery to the navy 
yard at Brooklyn, where we turned over the Virginius 
prisoners to the United States authorities and the United 
States marshal and district attorney. January 1, 1874, 
I applied to the commanding officer of the Brooklyn 
Navy Yard, Vice-Admiral Rowan, for two weeks' leave 
to go to my home in Pittsburgh. This was granted. 
After reaching the latter place I was taken sick and re- 
ported myself on sick leave for the rest of that spring 
and part of the summer, being unable to do any duty. 

114 



CHAPTER VIII 

ENGAGEMENT, MARRIAGE AND RESIGNATION FROM NAVY 

When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think 
I should live till 1 were married. — Shakespeare. 

In September. 1874, having thoroughly improved in 
health and contemplating marriage in the fall, I sent my 
resignation to the Navy Department, and it was ac- 
cepted to take effect December 31, 1874, which gave me 
the rest of the year to draw pay as a master in the 
United States Navy. This grade I had received a com- 
mission for in China from Captain Kimberley, of the 
United States steamship Bcnccia. He was the officer 
who afterward was so celebrated for his conduct in the 
management of the United States steamship Trenton in 
the hurricane in the harbor of Apia in the Samoan 
Islands. Being abroad, I did not pass any examination 
for this grade, and the navy, since the reorganization, 
has abolished it. and the rank is now equivalent to that 
of junior lieutenant. 

Through the efforts and courtesy of my esteemed 
friend, ex-Sheriff Henry C. Howe'll, of Philadelphia 
(whose son, George R. Howell, of the firm at that time 
of Moore, York & Howell, furniture manufacturers, 
married my cousin. Mary Robinson), I secured permis- 
sion to enter the office of Mr. John G. Johnson to study 
law. At the same time that I was in this office, the law- 
yer who has lately been appointed judge in Philadelphia, 
the Hon. Thomas K. Finletter, was also a student under 
the same preceptorship. Mr. John G. Johnson had not 
then attained the high and extended celebrity in his pro- 
fession that he now has, but had, however, one of the 
foremost practices of any lawyer then at the Bar. I must 
confess that while I have always been a hard worker 
myself at anything I could put my hand to, and was com- 
plimented by my preceptor for my assiduity and atten- 
tion to my studies in the office, I received new ideas of 

lis 



Engagement, Marriage and Resignation From Navy 

work from Mr. Johnson in the two years I was at my 
desk there. He had an iron constitution and a splendid 
physique, inheriting it, I think, from his father, who 
was a blacksmith. He never drank, smoked, or used 
tobacco in any form, and he seemed to devote himself 
entirely to his practice, every minute of his time in the 
office, day in and day out and in the long hours of the 
night. The only pleasure I ever saw him indulge in was 
to jump on a car some afternoon in front of his office at 
708 Walnut Street and go to a baseball game, of which 
sport he was very fond. He also was a great reader of 
Dickens' novels and other literature of this kind. His 
writing was almost indecipherable, as he had a way of 
contracting his words by leaving out the vowels, and 
while at first I could hardly read his letters or papers, I 
very soon mastered them. At that time there were very 
few stenographers or typewriters, nearly every bit of 
legal work being done by hand. Mr. Johnson had also 
a way of tearing off the blank sheet that came with many 
of his letters and writing an answer upon this piece of 
paper, thus practicing economy as well as saving time. 
His letters were always very brief and exactly to the 
point, either personal or professional. At the present 
time Mr. Johnson stands at the head of his profession in 
this country, and nowhere in the civilized English-speak- 
ing world is there a better lawyer or man of wider ex- 
perience in the knowledge of law in all its ramifications 
and peculiarities. 

My affianced, Miss Elizabeth Waddingham Gilpin, 
was at this time living in St. Louis, Mo., her father, Mr. 
Charles Lasalle Gilpin, residing at a country place named 
Pevely, some twenty miles below that city. Mr. Gilpin 
belonged to the distinguished family of that name in 
Philadelphia, the pioneers of which came over with Penn 
and were English Quakers from Cumberland County. 
His uncle. Hon. Charles Gilpin, was Mayor of the City 
of Philadelphia before the incorporation. In early life 
Mr. Gilpin went to the West and settled in St. Louis, 

116 



Engagement, Marriage and Resignation From Navy 

where he entered into business actively and also took a 
prominent part in all matters pertaining to horses, live 
stock, poultry and things of that kind, upon which sub- 
jects he was quite an authority. He still preserves his 
interest in the poultry line and has a chicken farm upon 
his country seat at Haver ford. Pa., where he is spend- 
ing a serene old age in raising and improving this kind 
of stock. His first wife, who was the mother of my 
wife, was a Miss Waddingham, of St. Louis, the daugh- 
ter of an old family there. She died when Mrs. Robin- 
son was a child. Mr. Gilpin's second wife was a Miss 
Helen Foster. My wedding took place in Christ's Epis- 
copal Church in Lucas Place, St. Louis, October 29, 
1874, and was attended by a number of my friends in 
Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and also some of Miss Gil- 
pin's friends in St. Louis. My best man was Mr. 
Charles H. Howell, of Philadelphia, since deceased, who 
afterward married Miss Annie Fitler, daughter of the 
Hon. Edwin H. Fitler, who was the first Mayor of Phil- 
adelphia under the Bullitt charter. The groomsmen 
were Mr. James A. Robinson, my cousin, of Pittsburgh ; 
Mr. Lewis Hutchinson, of the same city; Mr. Corbit 
Ogden, of Philadelphia; Mr. Lewis and Mr. January 
Plant and Mr. Jesse January, all of old and noted fami- 
lies of the city of St. Louis. The Rev. Dr. Clinton 
Locke officiated at the wedding. After this event we 
settled in Philadelphia and I continued the study of law 
in the office of Mr. Johnson, entering the Bar of that 
city the centennial year, 1876. After my admission I 
continued the lectures at the University of Pennsylvania 
which I had attended while a student in Mr. Johnson's 
office, and also opened an office for myself on Walnut 
Street and continued the practice of my profession until 
1878, when I removed to Delaware County in April of 
that year. 

Although I had a pleasant acquaintanceship in Phila- 
delphia and many friends, I found it difficult to establish 
a law practice there, as the conservatism of the people is 

117 



Engagement, Marriage and Resignation From Navy 

such that it runs in grooves, and newcomers, as a rule, 
do not succeed unless they have some factitious aid or 
some family estates to attend to. My first child, Eliza- 
beth, was born in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving Day. 
1875. She is at present married and has two children, 
girls, Elizabeth and Kathryn. Her husband, Mr. A. 
Welling Wyckoff, is president of the Chalmers-Reo Au- 
tomobile Company in Pittsburgh, a Cornell graduate, 
and very successful business man. They reside in the 
East End of that city. My other children were all born 
in Delaware County. In 1876 the Centennial Exposition 
was the great event of Philadelphia and the country. I 
spent a great deal of time in visits to this exhibit. 
Toward the close of this exposition I engaged in the 
business of selling engravings, etchings and mezzo tints. 
An English merchant in Philadelphia had imported a 
large number of these from France and was unable to 
pay the duty in full on them, and I took them out of the 
custom house and found the sale of them very profitable 
up until the close of the Centennial, when, of course, the 
large concourse of people falling off, very naturally the 
business became slack and I was left with quite a large 
number of prints on my hands, but from time to time 
disposed of quite a number of them. I also was secre- 
tary for some time of the Fairmount Park Art Associa- 
tion, which was incorporated for the purpose of beauti- 
fying Fairmount Park and to see that it was not marred 
by any incongruous productions. In the course of my 
administration of this business I put up the fountains 
at the entrance to the park near the Lincoln monument, 
similar to those at the Rond Point, Paris. I also in- 
stalled the "Dying Lioness," a very fine piece of bronze 
at the entrance to the Zoological Garden, near the west 
end of the Girard Avenue bridge. 

My father-in-law, Mr. Charles Lasalle Gilpin, through 
the influence of his brother-in-law, the Hon. Allen 
Wood, who represented the Montgomery County dis- 
trict in Congress at that time, was appointed chief of the 

118 



Engagement, Marriage and Resignation From Navy 

United States Customs Department at the Centennial Ex- 
position, and all the work of classifying and invoicing 
the works that were sent to the show passed through his 
hands. He received very high encomiums from the 
United States Treasury Department for the manner in 
which this work was conducted and finished. He and 
his wife resided at Wallingford, near Media, Delaware 
County, Pennsylvania, and during our visits to them we 
became acquainted with people in Media, the county seat, 
and liked the surroundings so well that in the spring of 
1878 we removed from Philadelphia to Media and have 
since resided there, spending more than half my life in 
that county and neighborhood. 



In Memoriam 

Since writing the above matter my father-in-law, Mr. 
Charles Lasalle Gilpin, died at the Bryn Mawr Hospital 
on June 7, 1915. He would have been eighty-nine years 
of age had he lived until September 3d of this year. His 
funeral occurred a few days afterward in the Media 
Cemetery and was attended by many prominent people 
from Philadelphia, his relatives and connections there 
and from Pittsburgh. There were very few men in the 
United States who had a more widespread acquaintance 
or a larger knowledge of public affairs, particularly those 
connected with manufactories and the iron and steel 
business. He was one of the most courteous and refined 
gentlemen that could be met with at any time. Always 
the same, quiet, unobtrusive and willing to assist or aid 
any one, particularly those connected with the large 
financial and industrial interests of the country. His 
death was mourned by all who knew him personally, and 
the tributes received at the time of his funeral were many 
and most beautiful from some of the most prominent 
citizens of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. 



119 



CHAPTER IX 

LAW PRACTICE, LECTURING, BOOK AGENT AND POLITICS 

Of law there can be no less acknowledged than that 
her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of 
the world ; all things in heaven and earth do her homage, 
the very least as feeling her care, and the greatest as 
not exempted from her power. — Richard Hooker. 

After entering the Delaware County Bar I engaged 
in practice and also did a great deal of newspaper work, 
space writing and lecturing. For a number of years I 
devoted my time to preparing and delivering lectures 
over the State and the eastern part of the country. I 
made addresses before a great many institutions and 
schools and on Memorial Day before Grand Army Posts 
and other institutions of the kind. The profession paid 
me very well for the time spent in it. as at that period 
the lecture business was far more extensive and a more 
prominent vocation than it is now. many of the larger 
towns and cities having regular lecture courses, where 
the most noted men of the country were called in in the 
winter season to fill the course. While engaged in the 
latter business I was at the head of the winter lecture 
courses for the Institute of Science in Media. I recall 
the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher disappointed us the first 
time that he was billed to come, but afterward appeared 
and before a large audience delivered his famous lecture 
on "Evolution and Revolution." One of the best lec- 
tures I ever heard was made by Theodore Tilton. of New 
York, since dead. It was called "The World's To-mor- 
row" and foreshadowed in it many of the very noted dis- 
coveries and utilities that now are common in every-day 
use, like the telephone and electricity in its various ap- 
plications for practical purposes. 

Archibald Forbes, a celebrated English war corre- 
spondent, who made a reputation in the war between 
Russia and Turkey, was engaged by me for two lectures, 
one in Media and one in West Chester. The one in 

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Lazv Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

Media was a great success and was largely attended, and 
the receipts were very good indeed, but the next even- 
ing, when we came to hold the lecture in West Chester, 
it was a very cold, bitter night and the hall in which he 
spoke was known to be an uncomfortable place for an 
evening of that kind, and the result was that I lost all 
the money that I made in Media by reason of this state 
of weather. However, Mr. Forbes and I spent a very 
pleasant evening in the hotel, sitting up nearly all night, 
he telling me many of the incidents of his wonderful 
career in riding hundreds of miles to get his matter for 
printing sent to the London newspapers. He was a man 
of fine appearance, but thoroughly English in his ways, 
with a tinge of Scotch in him. He seemed to have a 
wonderful constitution, or he certainly could not have 
performed the feats that he did and the various rides 
that he made during his career as a war correspondent. 
I had one of the most peculiar incidents with Miss 
Anna Dickinson, a lecturer who was quite celebrated 
during anti-slavery times. When she came to Media to 
deliver a lecture on some Roman Emperor. Marcus 
Aurelius, I think, by some little mistake of the trainmen 
her gripsack went on to West Chester, and it was some 
time before I recovered it, but I held the audience for 
quite a while and wanted her to go on the stage and de- 
liver her lecture on John Brown, the one she made her 
reputation on, but she refused to do this. When she 
received the manuscript book and gave us the lecture on 
the Roman Emperor she sat and read it from a desk on 
the stage, and it was a long, weary, dreary recitation on 
ancient history and old duffers of the Roman Empire 
which was of no account to the people of the present 
day. While waiting in the anteroom before going on 
the stage, when I told her that her manuscript had been 
received she fixed herself for her address by daubing a 
lot of war paint on her face, which was one of the 
homeliest I had ever seen, and took from her caba a 

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Laiv Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

bottle of beer and drank the whole of it without offering 
me a taste. 

All the lecturers I had any intercourse with seemed to 
have a peculiar streak of crankism in them. Tilton, for 
instance, when he came to the town was brought to my 
home and asked that he be shown to his room immedi- 
ately. He went to bed with his boots and clothes on and 
said he wanted to be awakened fifteen minutes before 
the time of his lecture and have a big bowl of tea ready 
for him, all of which was done. I remember Beecher's 
experience when we had some difficulty in getting him 
out of the carriage at my home. It w^as one of those 
vehicles in which you had to move the front seat for- 
ward in order to let the back-seat passengers get out, and 
as he w-as quite a large man it was difficult for him to get 
down to the pavement. He said, "You have to get out 
of a carriage of this kind on the corkscrew principle." 
He was, however, one of the most genial and affable 
men who came to my home of those who were noted in 
the various lectures. He even got down on the floor and 
looked at the picture books and played with the blocks 
with my little children, my daughters then being small. 

Selma Borg, a woman who came to me when I was 
running the courses in Media well recommended, with 
letters from prominent people in and around Boston and 
New York, among others one from Henry W. Long- 
fellow, had a lecture on "Finnish Lore," which was well 
advertised by the people who sent the lecturers out. 
When she came to Media and I brought her to the Char- 
ter House she was pretty well under the influence of 
some sort of narcotic or liquor or something of some 
kind, as was plainly evident. I had to have a physician 
called and she was put to bed. It was a bitter cold night 
and snowing, but we finally succeeded in getting her 
braced up and with assistance I got her over to the In- 
stitute and on the platform, where she delivered her 
lecture with considerable force, although it was upon a 
subject that was not of a very general interest. 

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Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

I myself had several lectures, the most noted one be- 
ing a carefully prepared article on "The Sea, Ships and 
Sailors." I presume I delivered this lecture several hun- 
dred times in the county and over the State, and in the 
hall of the House at Harrisburg. I also had a lecture 
on "America, Her Hopes and Fears," which created 
some sensation when I delivered it, as I drew pictures 
of the peculiar socialistic ideas that were then coming 
to the front in this country and the greenback craze 
which was beginning to overspread the whole nation, 
making many of us fear that it was going to swamp the 
sound money interest in the country, but fortunately the 
stronger and more capable financiers of the eastern part 
of the United States saved the day against the Western 
leaders of this wild and silly "fiat" money craze. I never 
charged a large fee for addressing a church or lodge, 
and in this way I was able to effect considerable popular- 
ity, which many persons otherwise could not have done. 

There was another feature in this business that was 
very pleasant. In traveling over the State you became 
acquainted with different kinds of people and saw a 
great many phases of life in towns and cities that were 
new and unlike the quiet, sedate Media, where I had 
come from. One of the finest audiences that I ever ap- 
peared before was at Indiana, Pa., the home of the Hon. 
John P. Elkin. now one of the justices of the Supreme 
Court of this State, who was in the Legislature with me 
and who had invited me to appear before the yearly in- 
stitute. It was also the home of the Hon. Judge Harry 
White, well known as the State Senator from Pennsyl- 
vania who was in Libby prison during the war, when 
his vote would have been decisive in turning the scale 
between the Democrats and the Republicans could there 
have been any way of communicating with him at the 
time. Judge White is still living at an advanced age in 
his home town, and is one of the oldest members of the 
Constitutional Convention of 1872 that fashioned the 
last Constitution of the Commonwealth. The hall was 

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Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

crowded in the evening when I appeared, and I had the 
honor of being introduced by the Hon. John P. Elkin 
himself. Many of the audience were young women 
teachers, but a large proportion of them were people who 
had come in from the country around, as this county was 
a good deal like our own Delaware and Chester Coun- 
ties, noted for its educational trend and high intellectual 
tendencies. 

The first Memorial Day address that I ever delivered 
was in Media before Post Bradbury, No. 149, G. A. R., 
at the Media Cemetery. It was very well received, as I 
had prepared myself with great care. This address, with 
changes, I used a number of times in my Memorial Day 
speeches all over the State, in Pittsburgh, Scranton, 
Williamsport, Reading, Chambersburg, Harrisburg and 
Lancaster, and, in fact, in nearly all the leading cities 
and towns of the Commonwealth. I know of no school 
of thought that is more efficient or valuable to a young 
man starting out for a political or a professional career 
as a lawyer or public speaker than the lecturer's plat- 
form, although at this time it is not patronized as it used 
to be twenty-five or thirty years ago. Then it was a 
regularly established institution yielding a very lucrative 
salary. The Star Lecture Courses of Philadelphia, for 
many years a valuable asset, yielded a large income. So 
did many of the other lecture courses in the leading cities 
of the United States, and all the noted lecturers like In- 
gersoll, Beecher and the others that I have mentioned 
were booked every winter to appear before these courses. 
So that if a young man could get the opportunity, and he 
had sometimes to make the opportunity for himself, as I 
had to do, it proved a way and a means for bringing one 
into wide acquaintanceship with a number of prominent 
people. As I, had always been active in public affairs so 
far as my limited influence went, I took part in politics 
from my first settlement in Media. I had a very curious 
experience the first time I went to the polls, which was 
in 1878. I was at the window with the book of voters, 

125 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

and one of the active opponents of the regular Republi- 
can ticket, which I always voted and encouraged, took 
exceptions to my activity and called me a carpet bagger 
and adventurer. I retaliated by telling him that my 
ancestors for three generations had lived in this country 
a long time before he emigrated, and it was not neces- 
sary for a man to take out naturalization papers when 
he removed from one part of the State to another. 

My first active experience at conventions was in 1879, 
when the politicians then in control of the organization 
in Delaware County were using their efforts to push for- 
ward the three-term idea for the nomination of General 
Grant. This distinguished citizen and captain had only 
lately come back from a tour around the world, where 
he had met all the dignitaries, kings and emperors, etc., 
and was received with royal honors everywhere. On 
his return he was given a very flattering reception in 
Philadelphia, as he had always been cordially appreciated 
there. The citizens at the close of the great civil struggle 
presented him with a house on Chestnut Street. The 
three great political powers in the country at this time in 
the Republican party were Senator Cameron, of this 
State; Senator Logan, of Illinois, and Senator Roscoe 
Conkling, of New York. They were a mighty triumvi- 
rate and every political incident seemed to point to their 
success in nominating the ex-President for a third term. 
There was a deep-seated idea, however, throughout the 
country against it, and the precedent set by Washington, 
Jefferson and Jackson in refusing to accept more than 
two terms was very strong. Meetings were held over 
the country, and such men as Hon. Wayne MacVeagh 
and James McManes, the then boss of Philadelphia, and 
the Hon. James G. Blaine, of Maine, who had himself 
been an unsuccessful candidate for the nomination for 
President in 1876, strongly opposed the efforts of the 
Cameron, Logan and Conkling combination to push 
Grant's renomination. The convention at Chicago in 
1880, which terminated in the nomination of President 

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Lazv Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

James A. Garfield and the defeat of the third term idea, 
is familiar to all readers and students of our history. I 
only mention these incidents to recall that in the conven- 
tion of September, 1879, in Media, when the Republi- 
cans who controlled the county at that time endeavored 
to instruct the delegation for the third-term principle, 
the effort they made was opposed by me in a speech and 
resolutions, which was my first appearance before the 
public in politics in the county. 

Here follows a record of that meeting from the files 
of the Delaware County American: 

"Mr. John B. Robinson, of Media, offered the follow- 
ing additional resolutions : 

" 'Resolved, By the representatives of the Republican 
party of Delaware County, in convention assembled, that 
we extend to General Ulysses S. Grant, late President of 
the United States, now on his return, a hearty welcome 
back to the shores of his native land ; that land which his 
calm, judicious bearing, brave patriotic devotion and 
illustrious services have done so much to honor at home 
and abroad. 

" 'Resolved, further. That as partisans and as people 
we deprecate mention, except in a complimentary way, 
of his eminent name before the next national convention 
of our party. The idea of a third term of chief magis- 
tracy, being in our opinion obnoxious to a great body of 
the people, and an innovation upon Republican tradition 
so flagrant as to weaken the power and lessen the influ- 
ence of any party advocating it.* 

"In advocacy of this amendment Mr. Robinson made 
an extended speech, which we give verbatim : 

" 'Mr. Chairman : I have but little to say in support 
of the present resolution. It voices itself, and if I mis- 
take not very much. In its first part it voices the senti- 
ment of the whole Republican party, and in its second 
part speaks the opinion of a very considerable and influ- 
ential portion, if not the whole, of the same party. At no 
time that I can remember has there ever been an authori- 

127 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

tative declaration by the party regarding this third term 
matter. Perhaps, in the past, it is well that it was so. 

" 'Two years ago and one month this country was the 
scene of a most peculiar and abnormal insurrectionary 
movement. A mad spirit of revolt ran like wildfire over 
the great loyal States of the North. The communism, 
which had at times disgraced and despoiled the fair cities 
and capitals of European countries, and which we always 
believed to be an exotic, seemed for a moment to be tak- 
ing root in the free soil of America. Blatant dema- 
gogues sprang up like mushrooms to assail the honor 
of the State, propagating the vicious ideas of the pro- 
letariat and advocating the wildest and most fantastic 
vagaries in finance, and in those time-honored, advan- 
tageous and mutual relations that should ever bind the 
rough hand of honest labor to the purse of honest capi- 
tal, so irritated and stirred up the bad side of the public 
mind, that for a short season the country appeared to be 
in an unhealthy turmoil, which presaged disaster. 

" 'Wise and judicious men, students of history, and 
young men with the future before them, were led to ask 
themselves and their older neighbors whether the baleful 
prophecies of Macaulay's famous letter upon our institu- 
tions — a letter which no American can read without an 
involuntary shudder — were unhappily to be fulfilled. 
The times were evil, and the record, discreditable as it 
was, yet had its use, as showing the people of the United 
States, for the first time, that behind their vaunted love 
of liberty and Republican institutions, the influences of 
their schools, their churches and their homes, there 
silently stalked a force, which if ignorantly or unscrupu- 
lously bad, might shake to its very foundation, if not 
utterly destroy, the whole fabric of civil society. 

" 'It was in these extreme and perilous days and after- 
ward, while the country was still disturbed by the propa- 
ganda of these visionary sciolists in politics, economy 
and finance, that the eyes of the conservative, law-re- 
specting classes, irrespective of party, were turned toward 

128 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

that illustrious soldier, whose signal ability and pre-emi- 
nent military genius, abetted by the mailed hand of one 
million "boys in blue," put down and crushed, I hope for- 
ever, the most gigantic and iniquitous rebellion that the 
world has ever seen — turned toward him as the living 
representative and personification of all that was lawful, 
law-abiding, safe and secure, and his name was men- 
tioned again and again for the highest honors. It was 
natural, and the sentiment was alike honorable to those 
who had advanced and to him who was the recipient 
of it. 

" 'But, Mr. Chairman, the times have changed, and 
changed for the better. The overwhelming majorities 
which greeted the adherents and standard-bearers of the 
Republican party last November silenced the noisy voices 
of the apostles of ruin and disorder, and not only averted, 
but prevented, the threatened defloration of the public 
credit, and paved the way for that resumption, the prac- 
tical fruits of which we now enjoy. With the return of 
seed time and harvest have come peace, prosperity and 
comparative plenty. The convalescing industries of our 
country are now thoroughly healthy and able to stand 
alone. As we are a God-fearing people, God is with us, 
and the next harvest moon will shed its mellow light 
upon the richest and most bountiful harvest ever vouch- 
safed to any nation. It is true, "and pity 'tis 'tis true," 
there is still disturbance at the South, and notwithstand- 
ing the fact that the hated cohorts of the National Gov- 
ernment have long been withdrawn, and the right of per- 
sonal government, about which such hue and cry was 
raised, restored — it never was taken away — there is no 
such thing as free and untrammeled suffrage there. The 
shotgun usurps the ballot, and murder and outrage are 
the credentials to high office. But the Republican party 
can solve this problem as it has worked out the solution of 
other and more desperate ones, for if there be one thing 
about which that great party has no contrariety of opin- 
ion, and upon which they are resolved and re-resolved, 

129 



Laiv Practice, LccHiring, Book Agent and Politics 

it is that there shall be from the pineries of Maine to the 
chaparral of Texas free, impartial and untrammeled 
suffrage. 

" 'There is, then, Mr. Chairman, now no reason — 
there can be before next summer no good reason — why 
the eminent name of General Grant should come before 
the National Convention, excepting in a complimentary 
way. The last information that comes to us through the 
facile pen of Russell Young from the far distant shores 
of China, where the hereditary dignitaries of an empire 
that traces its lineage up to the very fountain-head of 
time, vie with each other to honor the simple citizen of a 
great Republic, is to the effect that "he has had the high- 
est honors that could or should be given any citizen." It 
would be an impertinence to insinuate, as a quasi Demo- 
cratic paper of Philadelphia has done, that he does not 
mean what he says. General Grant does not want a third 
term, if his utterances be our mentor, but whether he 
does or does not desire it, there are many and cogent 
reasons why it should not be permitted to any citizen. I 
will not recite them, for they address themselves to the 
most ordinary intelligence. 

" 'No man in the country, no man — be he the most 
stalwart of stalwarts — in the confines of the Republican 
party, has a more exalted or a keener appreciation of the 
eminent public services of General Grant than myself, 
nor has any one a more conscientious desire to do him — 
as the world would have done him — all honor; but, Mr. 
Chairman, there is a sentiment in the Republican party 
and in the country that would be incensed beyond meas- 
ure, not that a third term was given General Grant, but 
that a third term was given to any citizen, even the fore- 
most in the Republic. It is a healthy sentiment and 
accords with the Republican tradition and precedent ; 
there is besides no famine of great names or great men 
in our party that we must confine ourselves to one name, 
however great, and violate usage. I trust, therefore, in 
presenting this resolution it may meet with favor and an 

130 



Laiv Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

ofificial declaration may go out from this little county of 
Delaware — so great in its stalwart Republicanism — that 
the party intends to stand super antiquas vias and re- 
spect the large good sense and unselfish forbearance of 
the Father of the Republic, who, like General Grant, 
turned aside and refused a virtual crown.' 

"Hon. William Ward took exception to the introduc- 
tion of the amendment, as entirely foreign and irrelevant 
to the purpose of this meeting. *We are not here to 
make or unmake candidates for the Presidency ; we have 
enough to do to take care of rebel influences from the 
South and the sophisms of doughfaces in the North. We 
want to take care of Republican interests this year, 1880 
will take care of itself, and stalwart Delaware County is 
not going to indicate a choice until the time arrives. The 
gentleman mistakes the locality when he thinks it hostile 
to General Grant, or to any other of the prominent names 
mentioned.' He then paid glowing compliments to Sher- 
man and Blaine, ending by the remark that we would 
have our hands full to elect our ticket this year. He 
spoke at length and very earnestly, being frequently ap- 
plauded. Finally he moved a reference of the additional 
resolutions to the convention which meets next year to 
elect delegates to the National Convention. 

"V. G. Robinson was opposed to the resolution be- 
cause it was premature, and because a conservative policy 
has never been the true policy. 'We may want a fixed 
and firm administration of affairs, and if such need is 
demonstrated in 1880, I am in favor of General Grant 
or any other good man thought best suited at the time 
the nomination is made. The people should not be denied 
the liberty to select General Grant or any other man who 
may be needed.' 

"Major Nevin said he was pleased with the address 
of the author of the resolution, and while it was probably 
ill-timed, yet it was well enough to discuss these ques- 
tions with a view to avoid mistakes. Next to Blaine he 
probably favored Grant, and wouldn't object to Hayes if 

131 



Laiv Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

the people said so; and if he kept on vetoing Democratic 
measures he might yet be the man. 'Let us not lose the 
State this fall, but treat this resolution honorably, as 
suggested by Mr. Ward.' 

"Jos. Ad. Thomson didn't like the resolution nor the 
manner in which it was introduced — the first part laud- 
ing Grant, the second declining to give him nomination 
he never asked, and probably wouldn't have if given. It 
was simply ridiculous nonsense. Grant was a big man, 
so big that he spread all over this country, and spread 
thick at that. 

"John B. Robinson said, in reply to these speeches, that 
he had no desire to introduce any disturbing element; it 
was only an expression of his personal views. The Re- 
publican party was not barren of great men; like the 
Democratic party it did not have to light its lamp to 
search for them, and it had a number of men from whom 
to select without favoring a third term. It doubtless had 
men even in this county able to fill and willing to accept 
any office, and if they couldn't get what they wanted 
would cheerfully act as tide-waiters on Tinicum Island. 

"While he thought Grant one of the greatest of all, he 
believed none so great as to justify breaking down a 
happy national tradition. He was willing, however, that 
the resolution should be referred to the county conven- 
tion which meets next year to elect and instruct delegates 
to the National Convention. 

"The chair was about to put the question, when 
Thomas V. Cooper said, with all deference to the pro- 
prieties and to his friend Robinson, that the resolutions 
did not deserve such a reference. To thus refer to a 
future convention would be to keep the matter open and 
to convey an impression that the Republicans of Dela- 
ware County were impracticable enough to desire its agi- 
tation. He knew they did not differ from Republicans 
elsewhere, and were willing to leave to time and events 
the development of a proper choice for the Presidential 
nomination. True, all claimed the right to their own 

132 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

views, and the chairman could not throw a paper pellet 
without hitting a man willing to express them. Yet none 
were so wise as to say what their choice would be next 
year. If the South becomes unusually turbulent and 
troublesome, the people will demand Grant, or some 
strong hand for the emergency, simply because the 
masses only move to the control of one great object at a 
time, and show but one great purpose. But two things 
can be desired — the man who will win is the first; and 
the man who will improve his victory is the second ; both 
in one is the candidate whom the people will want. 
Blaine's magnificent canvass may win him the honor, or 
if legislative issues assume the prominence they are 
likely to in the Congress which meets in December — with 
the fixed determination of the Democrats to attach po- 
litical riders to every measure, and Hayes' equally fixed 
determination to veto all such — some Congressional hero 
will doubtless be the choice, and in Blaine, Conkling, 
Edmunds, Garfield and Windom there are already plenty 
from which to select. He moved to table these additional 
resolutions, and in this way leave the question to time. 

"Mr. Ward accepted this suggestion as suiting the case 
better than his own motion to refer, but at the suggestion 
of Thomas H. Speakman and several others, the resolu- 
tions were withdrawn by Mr. Robinson. 

"The speeches given above, and only abstracts are 
given, excited much interest and frequent applause, but 
it is due to the truth to say that had a vote been reached, 
Mr. Robinson's movement would have been almost with- 
out supporters. 

"On motion of Thomas V. Cooper, the platform re- 
ported by the committee was unanimously adopted, and 
the county meeting adjourned." 

In commenting editorially on my speech Mr. Cooper, 
in the next edition of his paper, said : 

"If our friend, Mr. Jack Robinson, a quiet but very 
intelligent citizen of Media for the past two or three 
years, had purposed compelling acquaintance and atten- 

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Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

tion from those in whose midst he has made his home, 
he could not have done it better than he did on Thursday, 
when he threw the anti-Grant resolution into our Repub- 
lican county meeting. He had evidently carefully 
thought over his ground, and had so well concealed his 
purpose that, even if it had been desired, no one could 
have 'squelched' him without a hearing. No one desired 
either to 'squelch' or 'sit down' upon him, fortunately, 
and the result was a very free and courteous but earnest 
discussion of the merits of the question raised. Mr. 
Robinson's first speech was evidently carefully prepared, 
but his later rejoinders displayed the fact that he was 
not wanting in off-hand ability; yet his cause was so 
weak and his movement so impracticable, that it must 
have yielded to any assault. The first idea was to refer 
it to the next convention, but this was afterward com- 
bated, and all soon saw that the best way out was that 
finally taken, and its author withdrew it. Had he been 
a chronic or even a temporary mischief-maker, he would 
not have accepted a suggestion which buried his resolve 
out of sight forever, but we happen to know him as a 
good Republican — a stalwart, in fact, as all now are — but 
whose strong preference for Blaine induced him to seek 
any advantage to be gained from an anti-Grant boom. 
The boom, however, didn't boom in this locality, nor 
would it in any other, coming as it did in an impracti- 
cable shape and at an inopportune time. Thomas H. 
Speakman hit the fact when he said the sentiment 
seemed to be all against the resolution, and it was the 
part of wisdom to withdraw it. Mr. Robinson did one 
thing for which all thank him. He filled a meeting, up 
to that moment almost barren of interest and excitement, 
with both, and whatever he suffered in the conflict of 
argument which followed, he is politician enough to 
know how to bear with equanimity, and when he comes 
up next time, he will doubtless come up smiling, just as 
though nothing had happened, and likewise just as 
though he had completely atoned for any former mis- 

134 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

take. And if Grant should be nominated, in common 
with all other Republicans he will support him, because 
the imperative need of the country will demand Republi- 
can unity. We care not who the future nominee is, so 
that he be the man able to win and strong enough of pur- 
pose to hold well the fruits of Republican victory. If 
that be Blaine, so be it with a loud hurrah! If it be 
Grant, so be it with admiration for the discipline which 
he W'ill command and the enthusiasm which his deeds 
will invite. Whether Blaine, or Grant, or Sherman, or 
Conkling, or Edmunds, or any leader of Republicans, 
we shall be content if the best is done which the circum- 
stances yet to arise will permit of, and we shall, like all 
other Republicans, sink personal preference for the sake 
of absolute harmony and consequent victory. In fact, 
there are no longer discontented or factious men in the 
Republican party ; they are to-day inflexible and stalwart, 
having witnessed the failure of every conservative effort, 
and this is, after all, the best indication of victory in 
1880." 

In those days it was customary for the party under 
the representative system to elect delegates who were in- 
structed for first, second and third choice on the various 
ballots for candidates to nominate. The lowest man was 
dropped on the third ballot and the delegates who were 
for this candidate could then go as they pleased. In this 
way there was considerable latitude for action in sway- 
ing delegates one way or the other after their first choice 
had been eliminated. When the tickets were nominated 
and ratified by the convention it was customary to call a 
county meeting, at which any Republican in the county 
in good standing could take part either by offering reso- 
lutions or adopting resolutions offered by a committee, 
w'hich were generally presented to the convention, and 
speeches could be made pro and con. The late Joseph G. 
Cummings, a stationer, was secretary of the county com- 
mittee at that time and prominent in politics, as he was 
looking forward to an office himself. I used to buy my 

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Lazv Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

newspapers there, and in the evening before the conven- 
tion I told him that I intended at the county meeting the 
next day to oppose the third term idea, as I thought it 
was all wrong and contrary to our national precedent. I 
was a great friend and admirer of General Grant, but I 
thought no American citizen should receive any higher 
honors than had President Washington, "First in war, 
first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 
Mr. Cummings evidently must have informed some of 
the men in the convention the next day, for when the 
county meeting was held and I introduced my resolutions 
and spoke upon them, I was replied to by a half-dozen 
or more prominent Republicans of the county. Among 
this number were Congressman William Ward, State 
Senator Thomas V. Cooper, Mr. Henry C. Snowden, Sr., 
the late Edward H. Hall, Esq., Mr. Joseph Ad. Thomp- 
son, newspaper correspondent and writer, and some 
others. After having accomplished the object of declar- 
ing my views and getting myself before the meeting I 
withdrew the resolution, as before mentioned, which 
seemed to meet with the approval of the Republicans 
present, and the next day I awoke to find myself rather 
noted, as people stopped me and spoke about the speech 
and wanted me to run as a delegate to the next State 
Convention, and even went so far as to mention my name 
for office in the county. As I had only been in the county 
a year I thought that all this was quite premature, and 
so declared, but from this time on I took rather an active 
part in all political gatherings of importance and attended 
all county meetings and other political affairs. 

In the winter months I lectured a great deal, and in 
this way became acquainted with a great many people, 
and I was solicited in 1882 to run for the Legislature, 
but declined, although I had a strong following at that 
time ; but I still thought that my residence in the county 
had not been long enough to justify my going into the 
field. ' The assassination of President Garfield in 1881 
having disrupted his cabinet, making Mr. Blaine, the 

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Lazu Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

premier of that cabinet, a private citizen, as is well 
known, he engaged his leisure in writing a noted book 
called "Twenty Years of Congress." I secured from 
the publishing company the agency for this work for the 
county and district, and as the sentiment of this Congres- 
sional district was always strongly in favor of the 
"Plumed Knight" of Maine, the book was a good seller. 
I went all over the county in soliciting subscribers and 
became intimately associated with a great many persons 
of prominence, many of them active in politics, and as 
my commission for the work was liberal I could in a 
number of instances remit some of this and permit sub- 
scribers to secure the work at a discount, which placed 
them under obligations which were returned the follow- 
ing year when I went into the field as a candidate for the 
lower house at Harrisburg. 

Outside of the money I received for this work and 
that which I got by my newspaper work and other liter- 
ary writing in Philadelphia, I was not very well fixed 
financially to go into a political contest, but my many 
friends over the county insisted upon my doing so, and 
as the candidates at that time were all pretty evenly di- 
vided in strength, I felt that my chances of slipping in 
might be very good. The late Hon. William G. Powel, 
of Concordville, was a member at that time at Harris- 
burg, and the late Hon. Robert Chadwick, a naturalized 
Englishman, wheelwright and blacksmith of Chester, 
represented that part of the county. He was a man of 
limited education so far as books were concerned, but he 
had wide experience and great tact and ability for politi- 
cal work, and had held several minor offices in the Re- 
publican party in the city where he lived. Mr. Powel 
was a very large man, weighing over three hundred 
pounds. He was a farmer and rather popular with these 
people. It was customary in the early part of the sum- 
mer, when the farmers had quit working in the fields 
before the harvesting of the crops, to have a lull in their 
work so that they could have a little leisure. The Re- 

137 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

publican party through the county committee usually got 
up every year what was called a Harvest Home Excur- 
sion. Tickets were sold among the Republicans and 
others and the steamer Republic was chartered and a trip 
taken to Cape May and back, which was always relished 
by those who indulged in it. The candidates for office usu- 
ally bought a number of tickets and gave them to their 
principal friends and others whose good will they wanted 
to secure. I was unable at that time to purchase many 
of these tickets, but an incident occurred which greatly 
aided me. The boat arrived at Chester and a crowd of 
leading politicians from the borough of Upland, a hot- 
bed of Republicans, was waiting on the wharf. Some 
of these gentlemen had gone to Mr. Powel and asked 
him for cards for admission on the boat, and he said he 
had given them all away ; and when asked by them, "How 
do you suppose we are going to get down on the Harvest 
Home Excursion? You promised them to us," he said, 
"I don't know how you will get down unless you walk." 
This so incensed these politicians that they turned in 
bulk against him and supported me at the primaries, 
which occurred shortly afterward, and I was aided also 
by the fact that I could give out the few tickets that I had 
retained for last distribution. The Harvest Home Ex- 
cursion of that year was very largely attended. 

It was a very exciting political epoch, owing to the 
fact that the Hon. James G. Blaine had been nominated 
for the Presidency on the Republican ticket with General 
John A. Logan, of Illinois, as the running mate for Vice- 
President. The whole country was aflame with political 
excitement, and Mr. Blaine made a number of tours over 
the United States, particularly the memorable one where 
he returned a few days before the election in November 
to New York City and made a speech at the Fifth Avenue 
Hotel, to which the blundering minister, Burchard, re- 
plied with his bigoted remarks of "Rum, Romanism and 
Rebellion" to the Democratic party. 

I am, however, getting a little ahead of my story, as 

138 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

that was in 1884, the year that I ran for the Assembly, 
and it was in 1883 and the winter following that I was 
actively engaged in fixing up my fences and fortifying 
my lines for the struggle by lecturing and writing for 
the newspapers and selling books as far as I was able. 
The latter occupation was useful in a double sense, as it 
secured me some little money and useful exercise, as I 
tramped all over the country like the famous manufac- 
turer, John Roach, of Chester, who at one time (as he 
testified to before a Congressional committee) said that 
he had "tramped all over the western prairies hunting 
for work." I was a tramp in a certain sense in this 
county, soliciting for Mr. Blaine's book, which when it 
first came out went off like hot cakes with no interfer- 
ence with my profits ; but when I came to deliver the 
books I found that a large department store in Philadel- 
phia, owned by the leading merchant prince of that city, 
had corrupted some agents of the publishing house and 
secured a large order of these books, ''Twenty Years of 
Congress," and was selling them at 10 per cent, less than 
the rates the agents could deliver them at under their 
contract with the publishing company. This discount 
we ran up against when we came to the delivery of the 
books, but there was no redress, as we could not sue the 
big department store nor the publishing company in our 
financial condition. It was one of those scurvy mercan- 
tile tricks that operated very seriously against a great 
many young men who had gone into the business of sell- 
ing and distributing Mr. Blaine's work, expecting to 
make, as some of them did, quite a little money. 

I should have stated in an earlier part of this chapter 
that in 1880 the Delaware County Gazette, which was 
owned by Major D. R. B. Nevin, a member of the noted 
Nevin family and since deceased, was sold to Mr. August 
Donath, a very bright printer and newspaper man of 
German extraction, but active in all affairs in the State 
and nation. Nevin lived at Ridley Park and had made an 
attempt to go to the Legislature, but failed. Donath, 

139 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

looking around for an editor, picked upon me, and I was 
willing to attend to the matter, as it only took up one day 
a week or a little over. This was the first regular news- 
paper work that I did in the county, although I had con- 
tributed many fugitive pieces to the Chester papers. The 
Gazette was published at Chester, and I went from Media 
to Chester once or twice a week to attend to my duties 
there. The paper had quite a little influence and was well 
and carefully conducted, as Donath was a very shrewd 
newspaper man and financier. He afterward sold out 
the paper to the Chester Times, or made some sort of a 
consolidation with them, and I found myself out of the 
editorship, although it made little difference to my 
pocket, as I never received much salary. I did, however, 
get a very good knowledge of the detail work of a print- 
ing office, and the editorial work that I accomplished on 
the paper was very valuable to me afterward. Donath 
was a good printer and had a complete mastery of every- 
thing connected with the newspaper and press. Our asso- 
ciation was very pleasant, as I usually stopped at his 
house when I went to Chester. He has since gone to 
Washington and has occupied a position there in the 
Pension Office. 

The County of Delaware, which was made a State 
Senatorial District by the apportionment which followed 
the Constitutional Convention of 1872-73, at the time I 
write of and prior to this period was quite strongly in- 
trenched in the Republican ranks. The county, with its 
sister county of Chester, had been a Congressional dis- 
trict for many years. The Democrats under the old 
regime held it firmly in their hands until the anti-slavery 
question arose and the influence of the Quakers, or So- 
ciety of Friends (there were a great many in the dis- 
trict), was thrown strongly against the pro-slavery 
Southern leadership, and after the repeal of the Missouri 
Compromise both counties swung over to the rising Re- 
publican party. The Hon. John Hickman, who was first 
elected as a Democrat to Congress from the district, 

140 



Lazv Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

passed clear across to the Republican ranks in four dif- 
ferent elections. In the first senatorial election in the 
county the Hon. H. Jones Brooke, the head of a very- 
prominent family in the county, holding large real estate 
interests there and widely connected, was the State 
Senator. He was a man of a great deal of force of char- 
acter and strong likes and dislikes, progressive, and did a 
great deal for his constituents. 

The younger element of the party, who were in favor 
of a representative system and primary voting for dele- 
gates to the convention, had for its leader a young man, 
Thomas V. Cooper, who was elected to the Legislature 
first and afterward ran for the nomination for State Sen- 
ate against Mr. Brooke, and in a very acrimonious con- 
test carried off the nomination. Cooper was an editor, 
and his paper, the Delaware County American, still main- 
tained and run very ably by his sons, is yet a power at 
the county seat, although the day of weekly newspapers 
has to a large extent been minimized. Cooper as Senator 
rose to be the leader of his party in the county and one of 
the leaders in the State. He was born in Ohio, at Cadiz, 
the same place where the celebrated prelate of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, Bishop Simpson, was born. 
Cooper came to Chester County, was educated there, and 
learned his craft in West Chester. He started in part- 
nership in the printing business with Dr. Vernon, of 
Media, about the time of the establishing of the borough 
into a charter town. Captain Isaac Johnson, at this writ- 
ing the president judge of the county, was prothonotary 
of the county when I first came here and held that office 
for a number of years. He and Senator Cooper were 
the two active spirits in the Republican party. Both were 
gifted with fine ability for public speaking and a tact for 
manipulation of politics and a mingling with electors that 
made them popular and strong with the people. No T^e- 
publican organization probably in the State was more 
forcibly maintained or more carefully watched and con- 
ducted than the one in this county when Captain Johnson 

141 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

as prothonotary and Cooper as senator were in the saddle. 
Both these gentlemen had served in the Civil War, 
Captain Johnson being at the head of a colored regiment 
in Texas during the closing years of the war, and saw a 
great deal of the evil effects of reconstruction and the 
work of the Freedmen's Bureau. Their influence with 
the soldier element was very powerful, and through their 
affiliations with friends and active workers in the party 
in the city of Chester, then divided into three wards — 
North, South and Middle — South Chester being a bor- 
ough — they were able to so strengthen their political lines 
and build up the organization as to make it almost in- 
vincible. 

There was a "rift in the lute" in 1874, when the Hon. 
Thomas J. Clayton, of Thurlow, in South Chester bor- 
ough, then a leading practitioner in law in Philadelphia 
and this county, ran as an independent Republican and 
Democrat for the judgeship of Common Pleas Court. 
The Hon. John M, Broomall, who had represented the 
district in Congress for three terms during the war 
period and who had a very large following in the county, 
had been appointed to the judicial district created by the 
Constitutional Convention. This to a certain extent 
militated against his nomination and election, as his ene- 
mies charged that the district had been created for his 
benefit. The charge, however, was not a very substantial 
one, as Judge Broomall was a man so versatile and in- 
tellectual as to be qualified for appointment to the judici- 
ary anywhere. Clayton, however, was a good mixer and 
campaigner, and after the nomination which Judge 
Broomall received from his party the contest waged with 
a good deal of bitterness until the election in the fall, 
when it was found that Clayton had secured the prize. 
Owing to charges made during the campaign there was 
a bitter aftermath of suits, but they all finally quieted 
down, although the feeling between the Broomall and 
Clayton factions never entirely died away tmtil death 
closed the career of both of them. 

142 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

Judge Clayton belonged to a very noted family, all of 
whom were born in Bethel township in this county. They 
all rose to high positions : one was a United States Sen- 
ator, two of them were judges and one a Congressman. 
Judge Clayton in the latter days of his life wrote a very 
readable book which most of his friends in this county 
have perused, and it would only be repeating old history 
to give facts about the judge and his family. 

Judge John M. Broomall ought to have reached a far 
higher position in the State than he did, as he was a very 
strong man intellectually and had a taste for public af- 
fairs; but two things acted to his detriment politically; 
one was his strong and active espousal of the woman 
suffrage question in its early days, when it was not so 
strong as it is now, and when a man who took it up was 
considered somewhat erratic. In fact, the expression 
"short-haired women and long-haired men" was used in 
derision of the suffragists in the early stage of that prop- 
aganda. The judge also was very decidedly in favor of 
the suppression of the liquor traffic to the extent of entire 
prohibition. This political party never amounted to 
much until the last few years, and, as the woman suffrage 
question, so has prohibition and local option advanced, 
and if the former succeeds it is altogether probable that 
the other will not be long after it in being incorporated 
into the law. 

Our State Senator from Delaware County, Hon. 
Thomas V. Cooper, became chairman of the State Ex- 
ecutive Committee of the Republican party in 1881, his 
first campaign being to manage the contest when the Hon. 
Silas M. Baily, of Fayette County, was elected State 
Treasurer over Hon. Orange Noble, of Erie. There 
was a decided break in the party this year, owing to the 
defection of that fiery and eloquent little fighter from 
Union County, Charles Wolfe, who had been a member 
of the Legislature and also a strong Blaine adherent in 
the contest of the latter for the Presidency. In 1881 he 
announced himself, shortly after the Republican State 

143 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

Convention, as an independent candidate, and it took all 
the force of Cooper's ability and skill as a State-wide 
worker and chairman to carry Baily successfully through. 
One thing that helped the latter was the ingenious way 
in which Cooper used the first name of the Democratic 
candidate to the latter's detriment. Circulars were sent 
out privately all over the State in which there was an 
intimation that he was an Orangeman and very promi- 
nent in that order, and on account of his first name this 
naturally turned a great many bigoted voters of the 
Democratic party over to Baily or led them to avoid the 
election altogether. 

There were a number of sore spots left in the organ- 
ization on account of the senatorial election in the win- 
ter of 1881, when the Hon. Galusha A. Grow, who had 
been Congressman and Speaker of the National House of 
Representatives in the year before the war and who was 
widely and favorably known all over the State, made a 
canvass for the United States Senate and secured in- 
structions from a great many of the members of the Gen- 
eral Assembly. He was a strong man with a national 
reputation. When the caucus of the Republican mem- 
bers of the Legislature was held at the beginning of the 
year 1881 Henry W. Oliver, of Pittsburgh, the brother 
of the present junior United States Senator, George T. 
Oliver, received the caucus nomination for the United 
States Senate ; but there was a bolt from the caucus, led 
by a number of the Grow adherents, in which bold Mr. 
Wolfe, of Union County, was very conspicuous. The 
Assembly balloted once every week, but was unable to 
concentrate its strength upon any candidate and elect 
him. although a number of prominent Republicans over 
the State were named from time to time after the elec- 
tion of Oliver had been found to be impossible. 

I spent a good portion of my time that winter at Flar- 
risburg, in company with one of the Delaware County 
members, the Hon. Nathan Garrett, of Upper Darby, 
since deceased, a fine old gentleman of Quaker parentage. 

144 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

who was a strict party Republican and with the other 
member from this county, Hon. Robert Chadwick, stood 
by the caucus nominee, Oliver. Mr. Garrett was very 
anxious for the election of Oliver, and we often dis- 
cussed the merits of the case in the evening in Mr. Gar- 
rett's room over a glass of "hot toddy" or something 
equally strong. The winter was a particularly severe 
one and the snow at times very deep. Harrisburg is al- 
ways a much colder place than Media or Philadelphia or 
places nearer the sea coast. I think Mr. Garrett con- 
tracted the cold which fastened itself upon his system 
that winter in his devotion to his party and the cause of 
organization and representative party government by go- 
ing to and from the meetings of the Legislature and the 
conference in behalf of the election of the Pittsburgh 
manufacturer. He never was as strong afterward, and 
died late in the following summer. I recall being driven 
over to his funeral by Senator Cooper, which took place 
at the old homestead near the fine settlement now of 
Drexel Hill, on the Media short line trolley road. 

The State campaign for Baily had just opened, and 
Cooper had established his headquarters in Philadelphia 
and was mapping out the fight against Wolfe and Noble. 
The failure to elect Henry W. Oliver at this time to the 
United States Senate was, in my judgment, a very great 
loss to the party. He was one of the very best posted 
men in the country on the tariflf schedule and in all phases 
of the protection principle. He had been a life-long 
manufacturer and student of economic questions, and 
would have made an ideal United States Senator for this 
Commonwealth. He was not accustomed to making long 
or ornate speeches, but was a good plain talker on public 
questions, and particularly those that concerned business 
cognate to that in which he was engaged and the other 
industrial interests of the great city of Pittsburgh. The 
Independents who were for Grow clung together with 
great tenacity, and used to meet in a place called the 
"Crow's Nest." The contest wavered backward and for- 

145 



Law Practice, Lecturing, Book Agent and Politics 

ward with varying fortunes until finally it resulted in a 
compromise brought about by a committee in which Sen- 
ator Cooper was one of the leading members, and a mem- 
ber of Congress from Tioga County, afterward Judge 
John I. Mitchell, received the nomination and after it 
the election. It seemed like political retributive justice 
that nearly a quarter of a century later Hon. George T. 
Oliver, of Pittsburgh, the younger brother of Henry W. 
Oliver, should have been chosen by the Legislature and 
should have served and is now serving with great credit 
and intelligent force and ability in the upper chamber at 
Washington. 



146 



CHAPTER X 

NOMINATION AND ELECTION TO THE LEGISLATURE 

Conscience has more to do with gallantry than it has 
with pohtics. — Richard B. Sheridan. 

By the spring of 1884 I had very well fortified my- 
self for an active campaign for the General Assembly. I 
had made alliances as far as I could do so with prospec- 
tive candidates for other offices, and as there was a 
judicial campaign on in the same year, I felt that it would 
inure to my benefit if I could stand neutral and give my 
influence to neither one of the candidates. The candi- 
dates for the president judgeship were the sitting judge, 
Thomas J. Clayton, and William B. Broomall ; the latter 
was the oldest son of Judge John M. Broomall and was 
at the time the leading practitioner at the Bar of the 
county, having his office in Chester. I put myself under 
obligations to many of the candidates for local office by 
helping them on the "stump" and by my newspaper work, 
which I kept up all along, corresponding for the Chester 
Neivs and Times and a number of the Philadelphia daily 
papers, especially the Philadelphia Times, of which my 
friend, Colonel Alexander K. McClure, was at that time 
the editor and the leading newspaper man in Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The candidates for the Legislature who went into the 
field in 1884 were the Hon. Isaac P. Garrett, of Upper 
Darby, now of Lansdowne, who was postmaster there 
during the late Republican administrations, beginning 
with that of President McKinley ; justice of the peace, of 
long standing, in Radnor, Daniel C. Abrams — Squire 
Abrams, or, as everybody called him, "Uncle Dan ;" and, 
of course, the member at Harrisburg, Hon. William G. 
Powel, who ran for renomination. The convention oc- 
curred in mid-summer, and during the early part of the 
year I spent most of the time in going around the county 
making my campaign known and strengthening my lines 

147 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

among those who were influential in their various pre- 
cincts. As Mr. Garrett belonged to an old family in the 
county, he had many friends, particularly among the 
Quakers, on account of one of his relatives in the anti- 
slavery days being very active in the underground rail- 
road work. Thomas Garrett, I think, was his name. As 
I stated, the conventions were held by delegates, and they 
were instructed for the various candidates as first, second 
and third choice. On the third ballot the lowest candi- 
date was dropped, and if they followed their instructions 
on the vote in the precinct they went to the man next 
highest; but sometimes the delegates violated their in- 
structions in this respect, as it was only morally binding 
upon them. 

It is not necessary to go into the details of the ballot, 
but it was found on the day of the convention that I had 
a good working majority over all, the only danger being 
when the various candidates were dropped that by solici- 
tation of the delegates in behalf of the organization they 
would not follow their instructions. The influence of the 
organization was strong mainly in favor of the sitting 
member, Mr. Powel, and this is generally the case in 
nearly all contests of this kind. There were, however, 
some of the principal politicians for Mr. Garrett, Mr. 
Abrams and myself. The convention was quite exciting 
and very well attended, as the judgeship fight brought 
out a large delegation of people on behalf of each one of 
the candidates mentioned. The contest narrowed down 
to a final vote between myself and Mr. Powel, and I was 
successful by a few votes — nine, I think, in number. A 
number of delegates had been drawn away from me in 
the convention after their first choice had been dropped. 
My friends, of course, were pleased, and I was consider- 
ably elated myself, as I had very little hope, not being to 
the "manor born," as the saying is, and the general in- 
fluence of the machine, as it was called, being against 
me, and hardly expected to pull through. 

I spent the rest of the summer and fall in speaking for 

148 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

the Republican candidate for the Presidency, James G. 
Blaine, and did not feel that I would have any difficulty 
myself at the general election in November, as the county 
was so strongly Republican. A curious fact also turned 
up which helped me very much indeed. At this election 
the Democrats nominated a very estimable citizen of that 
political faith living in Newtown township, Mr. Jesse 
Brooke. It was ascertained some time before the elec- 
tion, when it was necessary to be qualified to vote, that 
Mr. Brooke had through some oversight neglected to pay 
his taxes within two years, and the result Nvas that as a 
candidate of his party against me he was disqualified to 
vote. This mistake or error of his lost him quite a num- 
ber of votes among his own party, as they said a man so 
prominent as he was, who was the nominee of a great 
party, should have attended to a matter of this kind._ On 
the day of the election there was a downpour of rain all 
day all over the eastern part of the United States. Being 
interested in my own election and strongly interested in 
the success of Mr. Blaine, I stood at the polls with the 
window book all that day marking off the voters as they 
recorded their ballots. I was elected, but unfortunately 
for the country and his friends, who were greatly disap- 
pointed, the "Plumed Knight" of Maine went down to 
defeat before Grover Cleveland, then the Governor of 
New York. 

For several days after the general election the country 
hung in suspense over the Presidential decision in New 
York State, there being a doubt whether the ballots were 
properly cast there for Mr. Cleveland, but after a day or 
so of examination Mr. Blaine settled all cavil about it by 
sending out an interview conceding the election to his 
opponent and congratulating him. Mr. Blaine was too 
popular to be elected President of the United States, for 
this very popularity, like Henry Clay's, rnade him ene- 
mies within his own party ranks, which aided to defeat 
him. The famous forensic duel which took place in 
Congress between Mr. Blaine and Roscoe Conkling, of 

149 



N onmiation and Election to the Legislature 

Utica, New York, both representatives at that time, in 
which dispute Mr. Blaine used the most sarcastic lan- 
guage against the New York Representative, caused a 
sore that never healed. This smouldered for many years, 
and came to active fever heat in 1884, when the county 
in which Mr. Conkling lived in New York State, Oneida, 
changed completely around in its politics and gave a 
large Democratic majority sufficient to have changed the 
result of the Presidency, as Mr. Cleveland was elected by 
less than two thousand majority. 

While the term of a member of the Legislature begins 
on the 1st of December, under the constitution, the As- 
sembly does not meet until the first Tuesday in January, 
and then does not get down to active business until the 
Speaker is elected and the committees are appointed, and 
other general business is transacted, such as the election 
of a United States Senator. This year there was a 
United States Senator to be elected. As I had been nom- 
inated for the Assembly and elected under pledges to 
some of my friends that I would not vote for Senator 
Cameron in the caucus, when the senatorial nomination 
came about I entered the caucus and, in pursuance of my 
promise, voted against Mr. Cameron. He was, however, 
nominated by a large majority and elected by the Legis- 
lature. However, some expected me to bolt the caucus, 
but I could not do this as I had always been a consistent 
and regular Republican, and as his nomination was made 
in the proper and legal way there was no reason why he 
should not have received my vote, and it was given to 
him. I recall now that at the time in the hall of the 
House there was some little doubt as to how I would cast 
my vote, as I had not expressed any opinion on the sub- 
ject, so when my name was called and I voted for Mr. J. 
Donald Cameron there was quite a cheer accorded me. 

The election for the speakership was not very exciting, 
as everything had been pretty much arranged before- 
hand, and the Hon. James L. Graham, of Allegheny 
County, received the caucus nomination and, of course, 

ISO 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

the election. He made a very good presiding officer and 
held the reins of power over the membership with great 
tact and impartiality where party matters were not con- 
cerned. He, of course, was a strong organization man 
and favored the leading organization bills that at that 
time came to the front during every session of the Legis- 
lature. Most of the pernicious legislation that is criti- 
cised in the newspapers and which is objectionable per se 
comes up from the great cities, and I had hardly gotten 
my seat in the House until there were one or two of these 
bills for my consideration presented by some of the 
members from the city of Philadelphia. I took the 
ground with my constituents that where the majority of 
the city delegation favored a piece of legislation that 
would be against the interest of legislation that I wanted 
for the county, I would oppose these measures. So, as a 
rule, I supported a good many of these city bills which 
many of the so-called reformers raised quite a howl 
about. It was found, however, that after they became 
laws they did not prove to be so bad as they were painted 
to the opposition in the early stages of their presentation 
to the Legislature. 

I lived while at Harrisburg during this session of the 
Legislature at the Hershey House, a very plain but sub- 
stantial hotel, the food being fresh, good and reasonable 
in price. My board and lodging for the four full days 
that I would put in at Harrisburg was only one dollar a 
day, as I would go up to Harrisburg in time for the ses- 
sion on Monday evening, spend that night, the next day, 
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and leave for home 
Friday noon. My colleague, Hon. Robert Chadwick, of 
Chester, boarded at the same place. Mr. Chadwick was 
not favorable to my nomination to the Legislature, and 
naturally supported his colleague, Hon. William G. 
Powel, who had spent the previous session there with 
him. Whether this created friction or opposition I can- 
not say, but there were many measures that he opposed 
that I favored, and many that he favored I opposed ; but 

151 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

I never voted for any bill or measure that I did not think 
was for the good of my county or State, and if in doubt 
about it I did not vote at all. 

As Mr. Chadwick had been there for some terms pre- 
vious, he was well acquainted with the old members and 
with the leading Republicans from the various parts of 
the State, and naturally had considerable influence in the 
House. He was on the Railroad Committee, and in this 
way could secure a large number of free passes, which 
were given out then by the railroad company with con- 
siderable freedom. It was a question in my mind for 
some time whether I would accept these privileges from 
the railroad. I was brought face to face with it when 
I received my annual legislative pass. After thinking it 
over I reasoned that it would be finical and superhonest 
in me to refuse this which all the members with one or 
two exceptions accepted, and also in refusing to my con- 
stituents trip passes when I could get them. So as long 
as I was in the Legislature and this privilege was preva- 
lent, as it was during the whole time I was there, I ac- 
cepted and gave free passes to those persons in the county 
whom I considered worthy of them. It was, however, a 
very great nuisance and took up more of a member's time 
than any other thing that he had to do while at Harris- 
burg. 

There was a legislative representative there for the 
railroad who gave out these free tickets, but when in 
Philadelphia you had to go to Fourth Street, where the 
office of the Pennsylvania Railroad was then, and get 
them from Mr. William A. Patton, the secretary of the 
president. I looked on these passes as being something 
that my constituents were entitled to as long as they were 
given out, and that I was only the intermediary or politi- 
cal conduit through whom they passed. William A. Pat- 
ton is still alive in our county near Radnor, and was one 
of the best fitted men for the work of distributing these 
legislative favors that I ever met. He was a clean 
shaven, wiry looking man of Scotch-Irish descent, evi- 

152 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

dently. and very diplomatic in his intercourse with the 
members. He would come out of the president's office 
washing his hands with invisible water, and, with the 
most Uriah Heep kind of humility, ask you what he 
could do for you, and he generally did it for you if you 
did not ask him for too much or too many passes. He 
got quite a throw down in the investigation of the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad officials by the Coal Commission, and 
it was found that, like the dogs of Cerberus,^ he was 
gorged with coal stocks received by reason of his official 
position. He has acquired quite a fortune besides. 

The whole pass system was an outrageous one and 
should never have been adopted, but it grew up imper- 
ceptibly from the beginning of railroading, and by the 
time it was abolished had reached a most alarming pro- 
portion, eating seriously into the profits of all the rail- 
roads. Many times I have been on the cars to and fro 
from Harrisburg and Philadelphia or Pittsburgh and 
found nearly every passenger to have either an "annual 
or trip pass." It would be better, it seems to me if they 
were not given out to anybody, not even the employes of 
the road, and certainly not to officials and others who are 
paid salaries that are adequate. 

My colleague, Hon. Robert Chadwick, was a rather 
blunt spoken Anglo-American, and I recall his receiving 
rather a carping letter from one of his constituents in 
Chester upon this subject, and his comment upon it was. 
"Oh, I can easily fix him up by giving him a few passes." 
They had, as a rule, a mollifying effect upon the person 
to whom they were given, but generally they came back 
like the cat, and so did their relatives, brothers, sisters, 
cousins and aunts, so that one had very little time to do 
anything else but attend to this pass business. The influ- 
ence of the railroads at Harrisburg is now little more 
than normal, but in those days it was all powerful, and 
what it must have been in the days before that I cannot 
say, but once I did hear Wendell Phillips, the famous 
orator, say in a lecture that when Thomas Scott walked 

153 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

through the Pennsylvania Legislature the wind from the 
skirts of his coat knocked down the members. 

Chris. Magee, of Allegheny County, was the leader of 
the State so far as the Legislature was concerned in the 
session of 1884-85, and I can conscientiously say that 
when he went through the halls of the lower House or 
the Senate he did so with something like the look of the 
Emperors of Rome when they came back to enjoy a 
triumph. I was very fond of him, however, politically 
and socially, as he was of an old Pittsburgh family well 
known to our people and we were boys together there. 
He grew up to be a very powerful leader in his county 
and the State, due entirely to his natural aptitude for 
politics and his careful and correct habits. In early life 
Chris, was in the habit of indulging a little, and occa- 
sionally would pass the Rubicon of the cup. The fa- 
mous Republican State leader, Hon. Robert W. Mackey, 
who was State Treasurer in the seventies and who knew 
Chris, in Pittsburgh, where they both lived and were in 
business, told Magee that if he would quit drinking alto- 
gether he would make him a political power, and he did, 
first electing him city treasurer, and from thence he be- 
came the all-powerful Republican leader of the western 
part of the State until the rising strength of William 
Flinn began to menace his influence in the county and 
the spreading and rapid rise of Senator Quay to the 
command of the State and national organization gave 
the latter almost absolute control. But of this more anon. 

Governor Pattison was serving out the latter part of 
his first term as Governor, and some of the legislation 
which we passed was vetoed by him. One of his vetoes 
was that of the Indigent Soldiers bill, providing for 
burial of those soldiers who died without means by the 
commissioners of the county. The Governor wrote a 
very stringent veto against the measure. I spoke with- 
out much preparation briefly against this veto, and it was 
passed over the Governor's head. I recall that the last 
part of my speech created some little flurry on account 

154 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

of the manner in which I put it before the House. Like 
Daniel Webster (not that I have any desire to compare 
myself in any way with so colossal a character), who 
framed the celebrated passage on England, "whose 
morning drum beat, following the sun, and keeping com- 
pany with the hours, circles the earth with one continu- 
ous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England," 
and put it down while sitting on the ramparts at Quebec, 
Canada, and seeing the officers and the defenses of the 
empire all around him, I thought out and put down on 
paper the last few words of my speech on the veto of 
Governor Pattison's message, and they were to this ef- 
fect: "I would rather be the lowliest soldier who wore 
the Union blue, crawling to an unknown grave in the 
obscurest corner of this Commonwealth ; I would sooner 
be this individual than be his Excellency, crowned with 
the gubernatorial honor, and pen such a message as this." 
I do not know whether my speech had much or little to 
do with it, but I think it had some effect. A great many 
of us are prone to think that if we jointly secure an 
effect politically or otherwise, this effect has been mainly 
done by ourselves. The fact remains, however, that indi- 
vidual influence is less potent than a joint attack. 

At this time in my moments of leisure, after the Legis- 
lature had adjourned, I did a great deal of space writing 
for the newspapers, the particular ones being the Phila- 
delphia Times, especially the Sunday edition, and the 
Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, as it was then called. 
The centennial number of this latter paper was published 
in 1885, and the managing editor requested me to write 
the article — previously alluded to — on "The Old Bench 
and Bar of Allegheny County" for this edition. I did so, 
and it was published with other interesting articles by 
local writers and some outside of the county. My daily 
letters to the Pittsburgh papers were written under the 
nom de plume of "Skysail." No one but the newspaper 
people knew that I was the author of these letters, and 
they created considerable comment in the western part 

155 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

of the State on account of the knowledge they imparted 
of the city, its people and surroundings, which, of course, 
were familiar at that time to me. I frequently visited 
Pittsburgh and Allegheny, having a number of relatives 
then living there. 

The year 1886, although not a Presidential year, was 
a stirring one politically, as we had a very warm contest 
for Congress in the Chester-Delaware district, James B. 
Everhart and Smedley Darlington, of West Chester, be- 
ing the opposing candidates. It was customary for 
Chester County to have four terms and Delaware County 
to have three, this being based upon the population as it 
was in 1860, when the rule was adopted. Delaware 
County was represented in 1876, 1878 and 1880 by Hon. 
William Ward, of Chester, then one of the leading law- 
yers and citizens of his county. He was a graduate of 
Girard College, a man of considerable talent, and a 
speaker of convincing ability. He made an excellent 
member of the House of Representatives and was very 
devoted to his constituents, serving them with fidelity 
and great credit. One of his sons, named after him, is 
the present Mayor of the city of Chester, a young man 
who inherits many of his father's good traits, particu- 
larly an aptitude for political work. When the rotation 
threw the Congressional nomination over to Chester 
County James B. Everhart became the nominee, and 
served for two terms. When Smedley Darlington en- 
tered the field to oppose Mr. Everhart this created a 
strong factional fight, as it was not customary to disturb 
the sitting member after he had gotten the first nomina- 
tion, but to permit him to remain until the end of the 
allotted terms. The whole of Chester County was aflame 
with the Everhart-Darlington fight, and it settled down 
to a very close contest, hinging upon the election of dele- 
gates in Westtown township. The decision was given in 
favor of Mr. Darlington and he was the member until 
1890. 

At the same time we had in the State a heated guber- 

156 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

natorial campaign. General Beaver, of Center County, 
who had been nominee in 1882, and was defeated owing 
to the revolt that year, caused by the independent move- 
ment under Senator Stewart, of Franklin County, was 
again the Republican nominee. But this time Beaver was 
successful. Our Delaware County senator, Hon. Thomas 
V. Cooper, was State chairman, and managed the cam- 
paign for General Beaver very ably, carrying him and 
the whole State ticket to victory. Beaver had been a 
soldier in the Civil War and was the youngest major 
general, I think, when at the time of the close of the war 
he lost his leg and was invalided home. He had been one 
of the famous "three hundred and six" at the Chicago 
National Republican Convention of 1880, when there 
was such a determined effort made by the triumvirate, 
Conkling, Logan and Cameron, to name General Grant 
for a third term, and at that time refused the nomination 
for Vice-President under Garfield. He was a warm 
adherent of Senator Cameron, and the latter told him, 
when his name was pressed for the second place on the 
national ticket, "General, don't take this nomination; 
you'll be forgotten in that place. Come with us and re- 
main quiet, and we will nominate and elect you Gover- 
nor." So the pledge was kept in 1882, and the defeat of 
that year gave him the preference four years later, when 
he was named and elected, and proved to be a very ex- 
cellent chief magistrate for the State. 

During this campaign Chairman Cooper brought the 
Hon. James G. Blaine into the State to stump for Beaver, 
and he spoke at Downingtown among other places. At 
this time, being a candidate for re-election to the Assem- 
bly, I had the honor of speaking to the large crowd there 
after this very distinguished Republican politician had 
addressed the voters. Both Everhart and Darlington 
were present and actively canvassing among the electors 
for their return to Congress, but neither one of them 
was permitted to take part on the platform, as it would 
have given one or the other more or less advantage. I 

157 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

had a good opportunity to meet Mr. Blaine and chat with 
him, and to observe his manner of speaking and other 
little peculiarities. He was a convincing talker, speaking 
conversationally rather than in an eloquent or sustained 
manner. His great art was to captivate his hearers by 
his frequent reference to local matters, and he did not 
fail at this time to allude to the historic Brandywine, 
which flowed down past Downingtown, and thence mean- 
dered to the Delaware and then to the sea. It was at 
this time that Mr. Cooper got hold of Mr. Blaine's high 
hat, holding it while he spoke, and exchanged it for an- 
other one. When he was done, the speaker not noticing 
the exchange, Cooper retained this trophy of the cam- 
paign of the celebrated man, and if I am not mistaken 
some of the family have it in their possession to this day. 
The train containing the Governor's party, Mr. Blaine, 
the State chairman and others was backed on a siding 
into a large field near Downingtown, where the platform 
was erected, and the vast crowd listened intently to the 
speakers, particularly to Mr. Blaine, as he was and had 
always been a great favorite with the Republicans of 
Chester County and also with our people in Delaware 
County, a great many of whom went up to this meeting. 

In this fight for the Legislature in 1886 I was pretty 
much in the same position financially as I was two years 
before — in other words, a little shy of what the sports- 
man calls the "long green." However, with the machine 
quietly against me and pretty much the same influence 
that I had had in the first campaign for me, and with 
nothing but my record at Harrisburg, such as it was, in 
my favor, and with most of those friends I had in the 
first campaign, I succeeded in getting the renomination. 

On taking my seat in the winter of 1887 at Harrisburg 
I found a number of the old familiar faces, but at the 
same time a good sprinkling of new ones. It is singular 
how quickly a legislative body will recast itself, and while 
some members return again and again for years they are 
very few in number. Some go by promotion to the Sen- 

158 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

ate, others are appointed to office or elected to local 
offices, county offices, or Congress, or have fallen by the 
wayside and are not seen again in public life. I made an 
effort to become a candidate for Speaker of the House 
this session, as a number of my friends in the former 
Assembly had asked me to do so; but after going over 
the ground and talking with Senator Quay upon the sub- 
ject, and finding that he was committed to Hon. Henry 
K. Boyer, of Collegeville, Montgomery County, I con- 
cluded it would be inopportune for me to keep up my 
candidacy, so I gracefully yielded and there was no oppo- 
sition to the choice of Mr. Boyer in the caucus. 

My work in this session of the Legislature was much 
pleasanter than in the first one, as I had become ac- 
quainted with the ropes and knew how to forward mat- 
ters in the committees and through the House and Sen- 
ate. The most important measure that was passed dur- 
ing this session of the Legislature was the Brooks High 
License bill. It was a long time under discussion before it 
became a law, and the Republican party as a whole was 
very earnestly in favor of its passage, but on the other 
hand the Democrats, as a rule, opposed it. Mr. Henry 
Brooks, of Germantown, who was the sponsor for the 
bill and for whom it was named, took a great interest in 
its formation and passage. It met with strenuous oppo- 
sition from the liquor dealers and liquor men, but on the 
whole I think it was one of the best laws that was ever 
passed in the State of Pennsylvania or in any other State. 
It has controlled the liquor interest to a large extent and 
made all subservient to the law, and has diminished 
liquor traffic and also the saloons. This is evident by the 
statistics, and men who now take out licenses have so 
much interest in them that they do not feel tempted to 
violate the law. It has been in operation now in the State 
of Pennsylvania nearly thirty years, and I feel more than 
satisfied that it was the best measure that I advocated and 
helped to pass while I was in the Legislature. 

I had at this session another chance to vote for a 

159 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

United States Senator — the Hon. Matthew Stanley 
Quay. When Blaine was defeated for the Presidency 
in 1884, and Grover Cleveland became President, there 
was a strong revulsion of feeling in this State against 
the Democratic party, and Republicans were anxious to 
stand together and rectify the mistake that had caused 
them to lose national power. Mr. Quay, who was one of 
the shrewdest politicians that this country ever produced, 
and probably never was equalled for that tactful, intimate 
knowledge of politics which brings popular spirit and 
success, unless it was by Martin Van Buren, of New 
York, who was known as the "Kinderhook Fox," evi- 
dently sized up this feeling in the State, and to the sur- 
prise of a great many persons, and especially of the lead- 
ers of the party, he became a candidate for State Treas- 
urer in 1885. He was nominated over the Hon. J- H. 
Longenecker, of Bedford County, and won out by a 
good majority in the State in the fall and took charge of 
the State Treasury in the early part of 1886. 

With the command of the exchequer of the State in 
his hands, and a new system of conducting the financial 
relations with the banks and the trust companies, Mr. 
Quay fortified himself so strongly in this office that he 
became a candidate for the United States Senatorship, 
and this Legislature, to which I was renominated, elected 
him. I voted for him in the caucus and at the election in 
the hall of the House. In fact, there was very little oppo- 
sition to him either in the House or Senate. The surpris- 
ing swiftness with which Quay entered the field for State 
Treasurer and won out and his election subsequently to 
the United States Senate made him such a formidable 
power in the State as to estrange him from his old po- 
litical colleague, Chris. Magee, of Allegheny. The latter 
had always, from the time of Bob Mackey, held the con- 
trol of the State Treasury and all the power that goes 
with it. Now that Quay had gotten possession of it, it 
rather overshadowed the Pittsburgh politician and left 
him only his own county and the western part of the 

160 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

State for support. Quay was a most peculiar character. 
A small man with singular-looking eyes — one of them 
almost sightless, he told me — a very florid complexion, 
with dark hair slightly reddened. He was very secretive 
and never ostentatious or effusive in talk or manner. As 
I had a good deal to do with him during my political 
career, I will have more to say about him later on. This 
Beaver statesman or politician, as you choose to term 
him (a statesman according to Tom Reed, of Maine, be- 
ing a "dead politician"), with this election to the Senate 
secured almost absolute control of the Republican party 
in the State. 

An incident occurred during the passage of the Brooks 
High License bill which was very amusing. Hughey 
Mackin, a Democratic assemblyman from the Sixth 
Ward, Philadelphia, a man of very little education but 
of large native wit and acuteness of mind, with the rest 
of the Democrats was very much opposed to this legisla- 
tion, and when it came to the time of the passage of the 
bill there was great interest in the hall of the House, 
which was crowded with spectators. Favoring the bill 
as I did, I made a speech on its final passage, and Mackin 
opposed it. I had heard privately that Mr. Mackin was 
the representative of a large liquor firm, and in the course 
of his speech I asked leave of the speaker to interrogate 
him, and the question I asked was if he was not con- 
nected with the wholesale liquor business. He very 
frankly told the House that he was and had been for 
some time, but that that connection did not influence him 
at all in his views or votes. The sequel is that before 
coming into the House, with some other members who 
were in favor of the Brooks law, knowing that we were 
going to pass the measure, we had been indulging very 
freely in the festivities of the occasion and had just 
closed a sitting which amounted to a kind of banquet. 
Consequently, when I came to make my speech and in- 
terrogate Mr. Mackin, it might have been noticeable to 
him and others that I had been taking something to 

161 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

stimulate me ; so after I had asked the question from the 
member of the Sixth district, Philadelphia, he requested 
leave of the speaker to interrogate the gentleman from 
Delaware County, meaning myself, and I accorded him 
the usual privilege. The question he asked of me for the 
bolt I had shot at him was, "Had not the gentleman from 
Delaware been engaged in the retail business just lately?" 
The aptness of this interrogation and the repartee 
brought down the House, and the laugh was upon me. I 
enjoyed it as much as anybody else, because of the wit 
displayed. Mackin was very quick and bright and took 
part in nearly all the debates on the floor. 

There was one member from Perry County, a Prince- 
ton graduate, a very able man and one of the best speak- 
ers in the House — Hon. William H. Sponsler. He is now 
practicing law, I believe, in the city of Pittsburgh and 
succeeding well. Sponsler had only one failing, and that 
was the wealth of his vocabulary and the frequency with 
which he addressed the chair, not only upon small mat- 
ters but upon large, displaying great learning and knowl- 
edge, but naturally his efforts did not amount to much 
because of the number of times that he rose to speak. 
One day Sponsler was speaking upon some bill, some- 
thing in this way: "Mr. Speaker, the day that I was 
born (naming the day and the month), which was in 
New Bloomfield, Perry County." At this point Mackin 
rose quickly and asked leave of the chair to question the 
gentleman from Perry County. This was accorded him, 
and Mackin asked Mr. Sponsler if upon the day when 
he was born, that he mentioned in his speech, it was not 
a very windy day. The brightness of the remark and the 
quickness of the interrogation and the knowledge of all 
the House of Sponsler's constant flow of eloquence gave 
force to the wit of the man from Philadelphia, and the 
House fairly roared with laughter. So it was, when he 
had the chance, Mr. Mackin would be on his feet either 
to puncture some weakness in the armor of his opponents 
or make him ridiculous by his aptness of interrogation. 

162 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

Crawford, of Philadelphia, and "Long John Donohue" 
were two members vj^o took a great part in matters con- 
nected with the Democratic side. Crawford, without any 
learning of any kind, was a very clever parliamentarian, 
and could always be relied on to tie up a measure with 
his knowledge of this kind of law. The boss of the 
Legislature at that time, Chris. Magee, used these Dem- 
ocrats very freely when matters were in "irons" or help 
was needed on the minority side. The Hon. John E. 
Faunce, of Philadelphia, was speaker in the Democratic 
Legislature of 1883, and was one of the ablest of the 
members, 

I made many very pleasant acquaintances in the lower 
House at Harrisburg in the first Assembly, and also in 
the upper chamber. Hon. Boies Penrose, our present 
senior United States Senator, entered public life in that 
Assembly. So did the late Associate Justice John P. 
Elkin, of Indiana County. Both were very bright young 
men, and it could be easily seen that they had a political 
future before them. Mr. Elkin was a special representa- 
tive of the agrestic community of the State and was 
sponsor for the Oleomargarine bill. Through his efforts 
mainly it became a law. I voted for this bill because of 
the dairy interests in our county, at that time being quite 
large, and receiving a number of letters asking me to 
support it, but my general views were against legislation 
of this kind. Another bill that was prominent and caused 
a great deal of discussion during the session was the Anti- 
discrimination bill. It was aimed against the railroad 
people and had a criminal clause in it which I could not 
see my way clear to vote for. In fact, the whole thing 
seemed to me to be of a kind that would not serve any 
good purpose either for the State or the corporate inter- 
est. I made an elaborate speech against this measure, and 
the Pennsylvania Railroad people were kind enough to ask 
me for it and had it printed at their expense, which gave 
me some little advertisement over the State, as I sent out 
a number of copies of it. 

163 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

Among the leaders on the RepubHcan side of the House 
were Sponsler, of Perry County; Robertson, of Alle- 
gheny, a labor leader who generally voted in favor of 
corporation interests ; Stubbs, of Chester County ; Dear- 
den, of Philadelphia ; Cochran, of Armstrong ; Packer, 
of Tioga ; Hardenburg, of Wayne. The Democratic 
members who were mostly in evidence during the session 
were Wright, of Luzerne ; McDonald, of Lackawanna ; 
Mackin, of Philadelphia, and Crawford and Donohue, of 
the same county. Hon. William R. Leeds, of Philadel- 
phia, at one time postmaster and a prominent leader there 
for many years, was in the Legislature with me and al- 
ways on hand to vote, and took a prominent part in all 
the affairs of legislation. Foote, of Tioga, was a good 
lawyer and logical talker. After his service at Harris- 
burg he went into the law department at Washington and 
did very good service there. Foster, of Luzerne, was 
one of the most level-headed men of the body, clean and 
upright in all his dealings. James Beacom, of Greens- 
burg, was a leader, and afterward became State Treas- 
urer. He was well versed in finance and always active, 
industrious and popular. Captain Gable, of Northumber- 
land County, took much interest in affairs concerning 
the Grand Army and was himself an old soldier, a mem- 
ber of the G. A. R. Post at Shamokin, and one of the 
most substantial Post officials in the State. George Cris- 
well, of Venango, a very careful and prudent lawyer, 
was well versed in parliamentary law and watchful as to 
pernicious legislation. Isenberg, of Blair, a Grand /\rmy 
man, was one of the serviceable members of the House. 
McGowan, a Democratic leader of Philadelphia, was a 
dapper, small man, but a very bright and able lawyer and^ 
politician. He was the Beau Brummel of the House, al-* 
ways dressed in the latest fashion and the best taste. He 
has since died. The last time I met him was at the Sara- 
toga races in 1907, where he used to go nearly every year 
for relaxation and that sport of kings, horse racing. 
Leonard Rhone, of Center County, was one of the most 

164 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

noted Grangers in the State and head of that order, 
taking care to have all legislation pertaining to the farm- 
ers conserved and passed. Mr. Rhone is still alive and 
active in his home affairs at Center Hall and in the State. 
Nicholas Voegtly, from Allegheny City, that part of it 
which I mentioned in the early chapters of this work as 
"Dutch Town," settled by prominent Germans, was one 
of the most reliable and solid members of the body. He 
owned considerable property in Allegheny County and 
stood high in the estimation of his fellow-citizens there 
both of German extraction and those native of that 
county. Chris. C. Kauffman, a young lawyer of Colum- 
bia, Lancaster County, was a fiery, stormy speaker, 
always on the alert for any measure that allowed him to 
make a point against the machine or give himself that 
prominence which nearly all the members more or less 
sought for through the papers. 

Among the Republicans of the Legislature during the 
time I was at Harrisburg was the Hon. Robert R. Dear- 
den, who was quite a strong factor in the House. He 
served, if I am not mistaken, as chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Appropriations. He was of a more independent 
turn of mind than many of the average men sent to rep- 
resent Philadelphia in the House, and used his own dis- 
cretion as to how he should vote upon the bills. After 
service at Harrisburg he remained inactive for a while, 
excepting locally, but within the last few years became 
quite prominent again in Philadelphia political matters. 
He was a candidate for postmaster of that city, and 
would have made an excellent official had he secured this 
billet. Hon. C. Wesley Thomas, of West Philadelphia, 
figured in the Legislature, and though a small man physi- 
cally, was quite a brainy, competent legislator. He was a 
great chum and friend of the Hon. Horatio P. Connell, 
whose service in the Senate and that of his father was of 
considerable value to the party and the State. Mr. 
Thomas no doubt benefited by the superior experience 
and knowledge of politics of Senator Connell. He was 

165 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

Senator Cooper's private secretary when he was collector 
of the port of Philadelphia and right-hand man, remain- 
ing with him for a number of years and finally himself be- 
came collector of the port and died while holding that 
office. Hon. D. Smith Talbot and Theodore K. Stubbs, of 
Chester County, were useful and capable members. There 
was a popular Democratic member elected from Chester 
County, which is normally Republican, Mr. William 
Evans, who served one term at Harrisburg while I was 
there. He was a very industrious and intelligent mem- 
ber and attentive to all his duties, and excepting upon 
party issues generally voted for the better measure. It is 
quite impossible to mention all the several members of the 
House and Senate I became familiar with during my so- 
journ in Harrisburg. I am only giving the more con- 
spicuous ones, and perhaps have overlooked some of 
these, as it is over a quarter of a century since this serv- 
ice was had. 

There were two things that I forgot to state. During 
the second session of the Legislature in which I sat, be- 
ing on what was called the "Slate Committee," the posi- 
tion of message clerk was assigned to me and I appointed 
a gentleman named Thomas B. Taylor, of Chester, a 
moulder in the Engine and Machine Works of the 
Wetherills. I met him at the Odd Fellows Lodge one 
evening. He was a good all-around worker and mixer, 
and did heroic work for me in Chester during my second 
campaign for the Legislature. He was very prominent 
in the Knights of Labor, which at that time was very 
large, especially in that city. William Hulton, a friend 
of mine, was head of it. He was a gardener and florist, 
an Englishman by birth, but a man of more than ordinary 
experience and education. This organization was 
friendly to me. and partly out of Taylor's situation in it 
and his assistance with the Republican Club and other 
friends of his in Chester, I thought it a good appoint- 
ment. He was not a very good penman, and his business 
was to message the bills over from the House to the Sen- 

166 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

ate. I instructed him very carefully to keep the record 
of all these. Some of the other clerks, on account of his 
inability to write rapidly and well, tried to "queer" him, 
which he reported to me, and I went into the clerks' room 
and read the riot act to them. There was no more of this 
during the session, but unfortunately for Taylor, in the 
rush and hurry at the closing of the session he took the 
revenue bill over to the Senate and gave it to the clerk 
and saw it placed upon the table of the president pro 
tem., Senator George Handy Smith, but somewhere be- 
tween the time it left Taylor's hand and afterward it was 
lost. It was a measure which would have cost the rail- 
road companies in taxation a great deal of money, and 
they and other corporations could have afforded to pay a 
goodly sum to have the bill killed. All the blame of this 
was put upon Taylor, but a rigid examination by me and 
a cross-examination of Taylor under oath convinced me 
that he was entirely innocent of any complicity in the loss 
of the bill. Unfortunately for him, after he left the sen- 
atorial session and it had adjourned he bought a house in 
Chester, a small one, paying a small amount upon it, but 
my enemies and his used this against him and he was 
charged with selling this revenue bill, of which he was 
entirely innocent. This matter was used against me in 
the campaign of 1888, in which I was defeated. 

I was in Harrisburg a great deal in 1889, and among 
the members of that session was the Hon. John H. Fow, 
a Democrat from Philadelphia, a noted lawyer and quite 
a character in his way. He resembled Ben Butler in his 
manner of movements and in the way he talked. In the 
House there was a bill to allow horse racing and book- 
making in the State, somewhat similar to the Ives bill of 
New York State. Fow was warmly in favor of it and 
made a speech along the lines in advocacy of the meas- 
ure. In this speech he said, among other things, "Horse 
racing and betting have been the sport of kings from time 
immemorial. Roman emperors, senators and high digni- 
taries enjoyed this life, racing their horses in the Forum." 

167 



Nomination and Election to the Legislature 

After the House had adjourned I went to Fow and said : 
"Mr. Fow, you must have gotten your history a little 
mixed. Horse racing in ancient Rome did not take place 
in the Forum. This was the place where lawyers and 
senators met to discuss national legislative questions. 
The gladiatorial games and the racing of chariots and 
horses took place in the Coliseum and Flavian amphi- 
theater." "Oh," said Fow laughingly, "Jack, the fellows 
in the Legislature never batted an eye when I said that, 
nor cracked a smile. D — n it, they did not know the 
Forum from the Coliseum." I doubt a little whether Mr. 
Fow knew his history very well himself. 



168 



CHAPTER XI 

FIRST DEFEAT ELECTION TO THE STATE SENATE 

My service in Harrisburg for two terms justly en- 
titled me to be renominated, and I essayed to do this, but 
there was at that time a kind of tacit rule or custom that 
two terms was enough and the member should give way 
to new blood. The cry is always for new blood when a 
person wants to be elected the first time to a political 
office, but after he has been in some time his cry to retain 
his place is that experience should be considered and 
count most in the scale. The year 1888 was a Presiden- 
tial year, and Grover Cleveland, in spite of all his prom- 
ises not to serve more than one term, was induced to 
strive for the second time. Hon. Benjamin Harrison, 
of Indianapolis, the grandson of President William 
Henry Harrison, who died in office, was the Republican 
candidate, and his colleague on the ticket as Vice-Presi- 
dent was that fine masterful old Republican, Hon. Levi 
P. Morton, of New York City. The latter is still living 
a quiet and advanced age, but I understand hale and 
hearty. "His eyes not dim nor his natural force abated." 
This Presidential nomination and election brought out 
quite a large vote. 

I had for opponent this time Captain Jesse M. Baker, 
who has only lately died. Captain Baker was district 
attorney of the county for two terms, and had just given 
up this office when he jumped into the arena as a candi- 
date against me for the Legislature. His knowledge of 
political affairs and his intimacy with all the workers of 
the county, on account of his holding the prosecuting 
place, made him a very strong candidate. He was, be- 
sides, a forceful character. In early life he had been 
appointed to West Point, and although he had not suc- 
ceeded there, on account, I believe, of some lack of apti- 
tude in the French language, he always maintained a love 
of military affairs and had more or less of a military 

169 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

bearing. He had commanded the local National Guard 
company in Media, the Cooper Rifles, so the title of cap- 
tain always stuck to him and he was never known as any- 
thing else but "Captain" or "Jess" Baker. His brother- 
in-law, V. Gilpin Robinson, a leading lawyer of the 
county, who had been district attorney for two terms 
previous to Mr. Baker, was then a leading political force, 
and his weight was naturally thrown on the side of 
"Jess" Baker. The contest was waged with activity on 
both sides and was a very heated one, but entirely with- 
out any personalities. Mr. Baker received the nomina- 
tion, and I made the motion to have it declared unani- 
mous in the convention. 

This defeat left me in rather bad shape financially, as 
I had spent a good deal of money in the fight and owed 
quite a considerable amount to various friends and the 
private bank at which I dealt. In order to recoup myself, 
and knowing no other way so well to effect this object, I 
applied to Senator Quay, who had just succeeded in be- 
ing appointed as national chairman of the Republican 
party to run the Harrison and Morton Presidential cam- 
paign, for work on the National Committee and the 
"stump." I received a message from Colonel Quay to 
go to New York, and did so and found him at the 
Everett House, he not having yet established his head- 
quarters. Quite a curious incident occurred at this time, 
illustrative of Colonel Quay's lack of careful financial 
exactitude. He was strictly a man of integrity, but care- 
less in his personal accounts, and cared very little for 
money except as an object to effect results. He talked to 
me about the late legislative campaign in which I had 
been defeated, and asked me how the thing had come 
about and some facts regarding my successful opponent. 
Captain Baker. He also questioned me as to my finan- 
cial situation, and I was very frank with him and told 
him that I was "in the soup," as the expression goes, pos- 
sibly to the extent of a thousand dollars or more. He 
told me that he would put me on duty at national head- 

170 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

quarters just as soon as he opened them, that no money 
had been received so far to run the national campaign, 
and that he was putting up his own funds for the pur- 
pose. At this time, however, he very kindly wrote out 
and handed me a check for five hundred dollars on the 
People's Bank of Philadelphia and said, "Here, this will 
do you for a little while perhaps, and help to tide you 
over." I had also explained to him that I thought pos- 
sibly I could secure him several subscriptions to the na- 
tional campaign fund. It was evidently going to be a 
battle royal in the national campaign on the question of 
protection, as Cleveland had written his famous free 
trade message and stood by it, and the manufacturers 
were all anxious to take up the gauge that he had thrown 
down and test the results on the issue that had never 
failed the Republican party in previous battles. 

I felt gratified after leaving Mr. Quay and hurried 
over to Philadelphia to get the check cashed and pay out 
some of the money to my importunate creditors in order 
to keep them a little quiet until I could earn more money. 
I got down to the People's Bank, presented the check to 
an officer at the front, and was sent for by the cashier, 
Mr. Kern. The following colloquy took place between us : 
"Where did you get this check, Mr. Robinson ?" said the 
cashier. "I received it a few hours ago in New York 
from Mr. Quay, the national chairman. He advanced it 
to me for services that I am to render in the national 
campaign." "Why, d — n it," says he, "what does he 
mean? I am not going to pay any more checks of this 
kind. The colonel is sixteen thousand dollars overdrawn 
now, and he will draw the whole d — n thing if we let 
him." So there I was with a piece of paper in my hand 
that amounted to nothing, and he positively refused to 
give me a cent upon it. Very chagrined, of course, I 
borrowed sufficient money, as I did not have it handy, to 
go back to New York the next day. I went to the 
Everett House and found Mr. Quay in the parlor of his 
suite of rooms lying on a sofa smoking his cigar after 

171 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

dinner. I told him the circumstances and handed him 
the piece of paper on the People's Bank. He said, "Well, 
Jack, there is not much friendship in a bank, is there?" 
I nodded affirmatively, and he told the truth. It ex- 
pressed my inward conviction at that time. "I will try 
another bank, and perhaps we will succeed better." He 
handed me a check on the Beaver Deposit Bank, and I 
took this paper to the private banking house of Hoopes 
& Newbold, in Media, the next day, and they immediately 
cashed it. 

I was a little on tenter-hooks for a few days, not hav- 
ing told Hoopes & Newbold of the People's Bank inci- 
dent, until sufficient time had passed to let me know that 
everything was all right with the check. When this time 
had elapsed I wrote Senator Quay a very nice letter of 
thanks and appreciation and told him I was at his service 
for duty any time he wished at national headquarters. I 
received a telegram in a dS.y or so asking me to come over 
to New York. By that time headquarters had been set up 
by the National Committee in a big brownstone double 
house on Fifth Avenue, with all the appointments and 
requisites of a first-class committee room, with telegraph, 
newspaper office, and a banking house even in the estab- 
lishment. I was placed on the list of speakers and given 
twenty-five dollars a day for my services, and my ex- 
penses were paid by the National Committee outside of 
this. I lived at the Fifth Avenue Hotel until after the 
November election, and with one or two exceptions in 
central New York, I made most of my speeches in the 
city of New York, making them day and night to little 
crowds or groups of all sorts of people where we could 
engage them, on drygoods boxes and from the tails of 
carts, always giving them our side of the protective ques- 
tion. 

The noted protectionist and lobbyist. Colonel Nathaniel 
B. McKay, now dead, was one of the speakers and ac- 
companied me many times in going around the metropo- 
lis in these daily and nightly tours in behalf of the party. 

172 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

He had only lately arrived from the continent of Europe 
and England, and had brought with him specimens of 
goods made over there, the prices asked for them in 
stores and mercantile houses, and the wages paid to the 
people who made these goods. This practical display of 
the difference between the production on the other side 
and the production on this was so much of a visible and 
patent exhibition that it made many converts. Our work, 
I am satisfied, was of some avail to the party. McKay's 
was more practical than mine, but I had made a thorough 
study of the subject and had every detail of the tariff 
question at my finger tips. I was sent by the national 
chairman, a few days before the election, on an impor- 
tant mission to Indianapolis to carry a packet to Senator 
Harrison, then the candidate for President, and to receive 
his answer under cover and return. What the nature of 
it was I did not know, but I was especially cautioned be- 
fore I left and on my return to be exceptionally careful 
not to lose the packet or permit it to get out of my hands. 
As is well known to every school boy, the campaign re- 
sulted in the election of Harrison and Morton, and Pres- 
ident Cleveland was retired for the nonce. 

I witnessed the tremendous excitement in the metrop- 
olis at the betting scenes just before the result became 
known. At the Hoffman House, the Fifth Avenue Hotel 
and some other places there were large bets made on the 
election. While Senator Quay did not advise any of us 
to bet, we knew and could see the enormous amount of 
work he was doing and the Napoleonic way in which he 
managed the campaign in detail. He had his little desk 
room in the large third story of the house on Fifth Ave- 
nue and worked day in and night through with a diligence 
and assiduity that was astounding for a man who only 
had the use of one eye and was not by any means physi- 
cally strong. 

One peculiar incident occurred during this campaign. 
T was sent on a tour to Watkins, New York, to take part 
in a debate which was announced and advertised. I 

173 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

found there a colonel from Colorado, whose name I can- 
not recall, who was to represent the Democratic and free 
trade side of the argument and debate the question with 
me, representing the Republican and protective side. We 
each were allotted a certain portion of time, and tossed uj) 
for who should open and close. I was thoroughly up in 
all matters connected with the tariff schedule and sat- 
urated with the argument and padded with the figures. 
When the debate began I could easily see that my oppo- 
nent had evidently been around with some of his friends 
and had been on familiar terms with "Mr. John Barley- 
corn," but I was surprised when he came to open up the 
argument that he did not know the A B C on his side of 
the question. It was absolutely a walkover for me, and 
the audience, the hall being crowded, was in an uproar of 
laughter. Those who had come to learn something of the 
Democratic side of the question were astonished, and 
any school boy could have gotten up and made a better 
display than did my free trade opponent on the other side. 
I managed to close up the debate as quickly as the circum- 
stances and courtesy to the audience would permit, and 
after the meeting was over I was very much astonished 
to have my opponent at the hotel ask me if I did not 
think the audience was with him in the debate. I told 
him I thought it might be they were with him, but it 
would take a pretty good sized telescope to find out how 
close they were to him or how fully they sympathized 
with him. 

Another little incident occurred that night. I had 
made arrangements to catch the flyer on the Erie Rail- 
road at Elmira after the meeting, some twenty miles 
away, and made a bargain with the livery man for a 
double team. If he caught the train I was to pay him so 
much more than the regular fee, which I think was fif- 
teen dollars, and ten dollars if he did not make it. There 
came up the most terrible storm, the fall equinoctial, I 
should think, by its tempestuous ferocity, but as I had 
another engagement to speak the next day, or rather two. 

174 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

and it meant fifty dollars to me, which was a good deal 
of money at that time, I was anxious to make the attempt 
to catch the train, and so was the liveryman for the sti- 
pend. We muffled up as well as we could in the tar- 
paulins and started away just as soon as I could pay my 
bill. The night was a "corker," and lickety split we went 
across the country at almost a gallop, with the horses 
covered with foam, arriving at the Elmira depot just 
seven minutes before the flyer came in. I gladly paid the 
"Jehu" his fee and a cigar, boarded the night express, 
and after a good sleep found myself at the Fifth Avenue 
Hotel the next morning, hale and sound. 

The two big parades of the two parties in New York, 
just prior to the election, were well worth seeing, and for 
hours clubs and crowds of partisans of either side 
marched up Broadway shouting their peculiar slogans 
of the campaign, the Democrats crying out, "Chinese 
Harrison, bow, bow, bow; Chinese Harrison, chow, 
chow, chow," and the Republicans singing, thousands of 
them, "West, West, Sackville West, carried Grover 
Cleveland in the pocket of his vest," this being, as is 
well known in history, reflective of the dismissal of the 
British minister. West, by President Cleveland for his 
lack of diplomatic caution and failure to preserve the 
amenities between our Government in the matter of a 
naturalized citizen who had written him. 

I never saw a man stick so closely to his work as Mr. 
Quay did during this campaign in New York. He had 
an enormous job on his hands, as one of his plans to cir- 
cumvent the padding of the voting list of the Democrats 
and cheating at the ballot box was to take a poll of the 
electors of the whole city of New York. This he did 
through men who went out for that purpose, but pur- 
ported to be preparing a directory of the city. Another 
thing which helped was securing the co-operation of one 
of the candidates for the mayoralty — I think his narne 
was Coogan — and in this way he had a representative in 
every polling place that was friendly. Still, with all 

175 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

these precautions and his immense work the task was a 
great one, and the fever between the two parties ran very- 
high. The betting was very close up to the last. It then 
favored the Republicans a little and there began to be a 
feeling that there would be a trade on the governorshi[) 
fight with Hill, who was running on the Democratic 
ticket for Governor of the State. Quay also secured the 
co-operation of McKane, the "boss" of Coney Island. 
This man held absolute sway in that part of King's 
County and could roll up any majority almost that he 
wanted to — more votes than there were voters if neces- 
sary. He afterward, for some election frauds, was 
sent to Sing Sing, where he served a term. The night 
before election there was great excitement around the 
hotel lobbies of the city, and especially at the Fifth Ave- 
nue Hotel and Hoffman House. 

During my stay at the former hotel, I met an old 
friend from Pittsburgh — "Pud" Childs, brother-in-law 
of Mr. Henry C. Frick, the great iron master of the 
Carnegie works. Frick was not then the multi-million- 
aire he is now, although very wealthy. Childs, like my- 
self, was shy of the necessary money a good deal of the 
time, but with my pay for speaking and with Childs' as- 
sistance from his brother-in-law, from whom he would 
get a wad every now and then, we managed to have a 
very good time. I felt, from what I saw of Quay's work 
and knew of the inside history of the campaign, that we 
were going to win, so I took every good bet that I could 
get to the limit of all the money I had available. These 
bets were put in the safe of the Fifth Avenue Hotel and 
the clerk was the stakeholder. The morning of election 
day I went over to Media and voted at my home polling 
place and then returned to New York. Toward evening 
I went to the Republican headquarters and up to Mr. 
Quay's room, where I found him walking up and down 
the floor nervously, with a wet towel around his head. 
He seemed to be undergoing an intense mental strain. I 
asked him what he thought of the outlook, and he said. 

176 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

"It is going all right. I think. King's County is the key 
to the whole situation." Further questioning was with- 
out avail, as I knew the chairman was not given to talk- 
ing very much. 

As the returns began to come in in the evening they 
showed Republican gains, and by midnight it was almost 
certain that we had won. Word came from Mr. Quay, 
or was sent out by him, that special officers were to be de- 
tailed at every polling place in the city of Brooklyn and 
other places of King's County to hold at all hazards the 
vote and prevent any fraud after it was posted when the 
polls were closed. The morning sun dawned on the elec- 
tion of Harrison and Morton, and the Republican party 
was again victorious on the great issue of protection. We 
also won the Congress in this campaign, although it was 
very close. This was the celebrated Fifty- first Congress, 
in which Mr. "Tom" Reed was speaker and in which he 
introduced the rule of counting a quorum when the Dem- 
ocratic representatives, in order to obstruct legislation, 
would not answer to the roll call. 

The Democrats sent out big blufifs of what they would 
do; and claimed Congress, etc., but in Quay's short inter- 
view he said we will hold with a mailed hand all that we 
have won — that is, the Presidency and the Congress. 
11iis was a crowning victory for Senator Quay and 
placed him at the very top as a national leader in politics. 
It also made him a target for the abuse of all the leading 
Democratic papers, particularly the New York World, 
which shortly afterward opened its batteries of mud sling- 
ing on him and sent reporters to Pennsylvania to ransack 
his past record and find out any peccadillos that he had 
committed in early life. 

The bets that I won on this election put me on easy 
street for quite a little while. At Christmas time, in 
1888, an aunt of mine in Allegheny City died, and the 
following February my uncle, both of them at advanced 
ages, and left all their assets to my mother. I had been 
promised the Assistant United States District Attorney- 

177 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

ship, or one of them, in Philadelphia, and would undoubt- 
edly have gotten it through the kindness of Mr. Quay, 
Mr, W. Dewees Wood and other friends, but that the 
changed condition in my circumstances and that of my 
mother enabled me to forego the taking of this office, al- 
though it would have been a very pleasant position. 

Now comes on the great senatorial fight, the greatest 
political fight which I ever had, and which lasted for 
fully three months. Among the friends of Mr. Quay 
who aided him in the campaign in New York City, both 
financially and otherwise, was the Hon. George W. Dela- 
mater. He was an aspirant for the governorship of the 
State, and he and his father were engaged in the banking 
business at Meadville, Pa., and were rated very well. He 
was a bright, affable and intelligent man, very highly 
qualified for public service. He had been elected to the 
State Senate, but being a newcomer to a certain extent 
in politics of the Senate and State, and his aspirations 
for the governorship making him considerable opposition 
from the friends of other candidates, he was up against 
a pretty hard proposition. It was, however, seen that 
Senator Quay leaned toward his side, although not 
openly. 

Until toward the last Senator Cooper had been a can- 
didate for the governorship, and as State chairman had 
many friends all over the State. Holding this place and 
the control of the organization, he was a formidable can- 
didate. Delamater had back of him, as a candidate for 
the chairmanship, Hon. William H. Andrews, of Craw- 
ford County, a noted politician of that locality, popularly 
known as "Bull" Andrews. I was the first person to ac- 
quaint Senator Cooper with the situation, of which he 
was ignorant, as he had been in Florida and the South 
during the winter and did not return until spring had 
opened. I was quite familiar with the situation, as I had 
been approached by the Delamater men to aid them. As 
soon as Cooper returned to Media I told him of the con- 
dition in the State, which he could hardly believe. The 

178 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

next day he visited Philadelphia and the headquarters, 
where he ascertained that the facts told him were true, 
and that Delamater and his friends had already made a 
very vigorous and extensive canvass of the State and 
had many people at work for them. 

The State chairman was elected by the State conven- 
tion, and this was always held in Harrisburg. This year 
the lines were drawn between Cooper and Andrews. 
Senator Cameron backed Cooper, and he also had the aid 
of Chris. Magee and his friends in Allegheny, and many 
other warm and influential advocates all over the State. 
At the caucus the night before the election, to the sur- 
prise of everybody almost and particularly to the surprise 
and chagrin of his friends. Senator Cooper got up and 
announced that he had withdrawn from the contest of 
the State chairmanship under a compromise that he was 
to hold it until the end of the year, and that then Mr. 
Andrews was to succeed him. It was evident that this 
was a deal on the governorship, as Andrews was Dela- 
mater's right-hand man and with the control of the or- 
ganization as chairman would be very potential in effect- 
ing the result. It began to be bruited about in a little 
while, as all things soon leak out, that Cooper was to be 
appointed collector of the port of Philadelphia by Presi- 
dent Harrison. Here was the "milk in the cocoanut," 
also "the nigger in the woodpile." Cooper's friends were 
very much incensed at his action. The powerful Alle- 
gheny leaders, Chris, and Fred. Magee, his brother, were 
particularly angry and said. "Cooper has thrown the 
governorship out of the window." It is not certain how 
the fight would have turned out had it gone to a finish, 
but I have always believed that Cooper could have won, 
and I was friendly to him in this contest, although I con- 
trolled no delegates to the convention from the county, 
as I had just been defeated the year before for the Legis- 
lature. I will speak more fully of this matter when it 
comes to the governorship fight. 

On May 25, 1889, Senator Cooper resigned his seat in 

179 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

the State Senate, making a vacancy, and received his ap- 
pointment as collector of United States customs in Phil- 
adelphia, a place paying eight thousand dollars a year 
and very valuable as a source of patronage and political 
power. The same day I opened my campaign for the 
State Senate, throwing down the gage of battle to my 
enemy of the year before, Captain Jesse M. Baker, then 
a member of the Legislature and also a candidate for the 
State Senate. Mr. James Watts Mercur, of Walling- 
ford. Nether Providence, Delaware County, a very 
estimable gentleman and well known from being the son 
of the late Chief Justice Ulysses S. Mercur, who had also 
been a member of Congress from the old Tioga district, 
was also a candidate, and this made the battle a three-cor- 
nered affair. But the main fight lay between myself and 
Captain Baker, the latter a foeman worthy of any man's 
steel. 

All the powerful influences of the organization and the 
leading politicians of the county were against me when I 
began this fight. Captain Baker had put out a good 
many promises the year before in order to insure my de- 
feat for the lower House, and these promises came back 
like bad pennies to torment him this year. Where he did 
not or could not fulfill them it inured greatly to my 
benefit. In the early part of my first legislative campaign 
I was introduced by Mr. Coburn, a saddler of Marcus 
Hook, to Joseph H. Huddell, who had formerly been in 
the coal business in Philadelphia and had removed in the 
early seventies to Marcus Hook. He had taken part in 
the political campaign that elected Judge Clayton to the 
bench the first time, and when I ran for the Legislature 
in 1884 he was confined to his house by sickness and un- 
able to move out of his room or to walk, and yet he suc- 
ceeded by his tact and political ability in carrying that 
precinct for me. I had learned to like the man very 
much, as his discretion and judgment were of the very 
best. He was quite reticent in his manner and address, 
and never volunteered anything that he could not do, and 

180 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

had a great deal of influence with all the workers because 
of his gentlemanly bearing and treatment of them. He 
had a special following among the colored people of South 
Chester and that vicinity which was valuable in that he 
had only to state to them what he wanted done and they 
believed in him so implicitly that they would work for 
him to their utmost. He was my right-hand man and 
lieutenant in this senatorial campaign and in every way 
aided me ; without his assistance I do not know whether 
I could have been successful. I had the influence of the 
Chester Times, then edited by William I. Tribbett, a very 
bright newspaper man, whose editorials were of great 
assistance. Mr. John A. Wallace, the owner of the 
paper, and Mr. Sproul, who had after his graduation 
from Swarthmore College bought an interest in the 
paper, were very friendly to me. Mr. Enos Verlenden, 
of Darby, the manufacturer, since deceased, was very ac- 
tive in my behalf. William L. Mathues, who was then a 
clerk in the prothonotary's ofiice, was quietly very 
friendly to me. He was a born politician and had great in- 
fluence in Bethel township and that portion of the county. 
I had the united influence of the Heyburn family, of Con- 
cordville, quite a large connection and all with a taste for 
politics. They stood well in their community and had 
many friends. 

I took the stump in this campaign and made speeches 
wherever I could. My opening speech was made at Con- 
cord Hill to a large gathering of farmers, and I made a 
point which took with them and others in the county. 
The county debt under the leadership which was opposing 
me had not been reduced since the war ; there was no 
sinking fund, but the county was borrowing money for 
its current expenses by notes in the bank and paying six 
per cent, interest, while our neighbor, Chester County, 
on the contrary, had almost paid off all of hers. 

As the campaign progressed the excitement grew 
greater until it reached fever heat. Everybody of 
any influence in politics was interested one way or the 

181 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

other. Senator Cooper, being in the Custom House, at 
the head of it, had a chance either to place a number of 
people there or to promise them places, and this fact mili- 
tated against me. Judge Clayton, whose powerful 
weight in the county, occupying as he did the position on 
the bench and his being the source of the license grant- 
ing, was with the combination opposing me. This fact 
naturally threw a large force of liquor men to the side of 
Captain Baker. I had, however, two or three very good 
hotel keepers in the county who were secretly operating 
in my behalf afid giving me useful information. 

Night and day I traversed the county from Radnor to 
Marcus Hook and from the Brandywine to Cobb's Creek. 
In the evenings after I would return to Media I spent a 
great part of the time until midnight and after dictating 
editorials to various county papers, and I also corre- 
sponded with several of the Philadelphia papers which 
were friendly to me. This source of information of what 
was going on in the political battle was exceedingly use- 
ful, as nearly everybody read a Philadelphia paper in the 
morning at breakfast. I had coralled the correspondence, 
and with my own aid in writing made it so that Captain 
Baker could not get his side of the question presented by 
the papers of the city, and the Chester Times kept rap- 
ping and hammering at him and the machine with the 
most strenuous vigor and I was having the same paper 
distributed all over the county to offset the effect of the 
Delaware County American, which was friendly to 
"Jess." 

I had my office in Media and also headquarters in the 
city of Chester. The latter headquarters were attended 
to mainly by Captain Huddell, who saw the workers there 
and gave them first information and aid as to what I was 
doing and how the campaign was progressing. One thing 
that helped me very greatly in my contest was the fact 
that Captain Baker had the confidence of a member of 
Congress, Hon. Smedley Darlington, and to a large ex- 
tent distributed the United States patronage in this 

182 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

county, such as post offices, etc. This, as everybody 
who is a politician knows, is a two-edged sword, and it 
brought a lot of hornets around Captain Baker's head in 
the way of disappointed applicants, and in one instance 
gained me the support of the entire working force in the 
borough of Upland. In this borough Mr. Baker, through 
some inadvertence or oversight, had written a letter to 
different parties regarding the appointment to the post 
office there, and these letters being compared put him in 
the very singular position of advocating two different 
aspirants for the same place. The result of this was to 
turn over to me the most influential men I had back of 
me in the campaign from that locality. Among them 
were three very indefatigable and tireless workers — 
Josiah Smith, who has since studied law, entered the Bar 
and served as district attorney of the county ; A. J. Dal- 
ton, who was placed in the prothonotary's' office under 
the late William L. Mathues, at my suggestion, and who 
has risen to be prothonotary and served a number of 
terms, and who is now the deputy prothonotary; and 
James W. Barker, a boot and shoe maker, of that bor- 
ough, a native of England, coming from the county not 
far from where the ancestors of George Washington 
emigrated. He is a man who has had little advantages 
of education, but great practical experience, wide reach, 
and chock full of information on all subjects, and had 
been leader in a number of political movements. In this 
fight of mine his cobbler shop in the borough was a sort 
of headquarters for the boys to gather and go over the 
various phases of the campaign. These three gentlemen 
never hesitated to walk from Chester or Upland to my 
home in Media or any other point in the county where 
I wished them to go in my interest, and left no stone un- 
turned to win out delegates for me. They were strong 
enough to carry the borough of Upland, although Cap- 
tain Baker had some very warm friends there, among 
them the noted Crozer family. 

Nearly every evening, particularly on Sunday even- 

183 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

ings, these gentlemen would call at my house and we 
would traverse the situation and see in what direction we 
could make new and forceful friends. Outside of my 
chief lieutenant, Captain Huddell, I think that these three 
men combined were of more use to me and aided more in 
my success to reach the Senate than any other three poli- 
ticians in the county. Some of the townships and pre- 
cincts I found were warmly in favor of Baker, and I did 
not until the last attempt to make any headway there ex- 
cept to put up such a fight as would keep some of the 
friends of Baker busy while he was at other places. Rad- 
nor township, Newtown and Marple were friendly to 
Baker, and Marple particularly so at the beginning, but at 
the heel of the hunt I succeeded in securing the influence 
of the two Hippie brothers, William and Harry, both of 
them latterly holding ofifice in my leadership. They were 
influential farmers in that township and had lots of 
friends. 

At the last it was doubtful whether I could carry the 
township over Baker, so we made a deal with the friends 
of Mr. Mercur that we give him the township as first 
choice and select such delegates as would be friendly to 
my nomination on second choice. This succeeded very 
well and in the end gave the township to me. The city of 
Chester at first was in favor of Baker, but by the careful 
organization of myself and my friends there we suc- 
ceeded in turning it almost completely around, even in 
the districts controlled nearly always by the late William 
J. McClure, who was the leading liquor merchant in the 
county, a politician of great skill and discernment ; also a 
very quiet and unostentatious gentleman. He never lost 
his temper under any provocation whatsoever, and al- 
ways was affable and agreeable to all. He had a large 
number of friends in Chester, particularly in his own pre- 
cinct and ward, but so strongly did the tide run in my 
favor toward the last that I succeeded in sweeping all 
these places. I also carried all the precincts of South 
Chester. One of them, the first precinct, which had al- 

184 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

ways been held in the grip of Hubert J. Riley, a promi- 
nent hotel keeper at that time and a skilled manipulator 
in the game of politics, was carried by me through the 
offices of Captain Huddell, who secured the services of a 
colored man, Alexander Watson, who had been a right 
bower to Riley in previous contests, as he was a good 
man at figures and could read and write very well. 

Mr. William I. Schaffer, then just entering upon the 
practice of the law, was very useful to me in this sena- 
torial contest. He was one of the brightest young men 
not only of the county but of the whole State and a 
speaker of no ordinary ability and force. He afterward 
became district attorney and served a number of years as 
State reporter. He has risen to prominence at the Bar 
and is ranked now among the foremost lawyers in the 
State. Strange to say, his stepfather, Mr. John B. Han- 
num, who served as district attorney after Captain Baker 
came out of that office, was favorable to the nomination 
of the latter. This, of course, was a very influential po- 
sition, and Mr. Hannum had many friends in the city of 
Chester and his influence counted for no little against 
me. He has a son, John B., Jr., a bright young man. 
who has also since become district attorney, serving 
at the present time. I had some very efficient friends 
in every township; farmers, merchants and storekeepers 
were working in my interest openly, others quietly. 
There was Charles Hanley, a drover of Haverford 
township, who through the silent influence of the hotel 
keeper there, a Mr. Johnson, carried that precinct for 
me from the very potent and widespread acquaintance 
of Mr. John Leedom. This family and its branches 
were numerous and counted for a good deal in a political 
struggle, so Hanley had his hands full, but he was a very 
adroit and popular worker and mixer. In Bethel I had 
the influence of the Mathues family, and in the lower end 
that of Mr. William S. Goodley, a farmer who stood 
very high in the estimation of his fellow farmers in that 
locality. Dr. Hayward, of Chadds Ford, was my lieu- 

185 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

tenant there, and, while not a professional politician, was 
exceedingly clever in quietly gaining me adherents in the 
working of my cause against and over the strong influ- 
ence of the Baldwins — Mr. Richard J. and Henry, the 
former at present a member of the Legislature — who has 
served a number of terms in Harrisburg with consider- 
able prominence and usefulness to his constituents. In 
this township nearly every person who could cast a pri- 
mary vote for the Republican party came out and voted 
for one or the other of the senatorial candidates, Baker 
or myself. The poll was decided by one vote, I believe, 
in favor of Mr. Baker. 

In the Concords and Concord Hill I was more suc- 
cessful. I also fared very well in Aston township, where 
I had the support of the late John Standring, the Town- 
send boys, Samuel Fowden, and the Riddle boys, Samuel 
and Leander, both popular young men, just coming to 
their majority and having many ardent friends. It was 
a pitched battle in Middletown township and very close. 
In the lower end I had Charles Viguers and Robert Fur- 
man for me, and in Lower Providence it was conceded 
to Mr. Mercur as being his home locality, and the battle 
was for second choice. The late Llewellyn Clevenger, 
of that township, did me a great deal of good, as he was 
a member of the Improved Order of Red Men and vis- 
ited a great many of the wigwams in my behalf. He was 
a good talker and canvasser and made no end of laborious 
efforts for me. 

In the eastern end of the county and Northern Upper 
Darby, etc., I was not very strong, although I had quite 
a following. The old Darbys fell in line for me through 
the influence of the Verlendens. All along the river front 
from there to Chester I carried the delegates except in 
Ridley Park. Frank Lewis, a prominent railroad man 
there, who had a good deal of strength in that borough, 
was an advocate of Captain Baker and succeeded in car- 
rying the Park for him. Chester was, however, the great 
arena for delegates, and as I had become acquainted per- 

186 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

sonally with nearly all the workers there, through my 
having gone into the mills at the time I was a book agent, 
and having lectured a good many times before the clubs 
and in the churches and lodges, I found this a source of 
great help to me. The Burns Society, of Chester, a 
gathering of the Scotch-Americans, many of whom 
worked at the Eddystone Print Works, were all active 
and diligent workers for my cause. I had always been 
an attendant at the Burns' anniversary dinners and aided 
them in other ways, and through the efforts of John Mac- 
Fayden, the leader of these naturalized citizens, who was 
then in charge of the street railway cars and superintend- 
ent and had a great deal of personal popularity and 
strength, did heroic work for me, as did his friends of 
the Scotch-American Society. The Young Men's Repub- 
lican Club, of the city of Chester, the strongest political 
organization of the county, was almost a unit in my be- 
half. I had from my first entry into politics cultivated 
the acquaintance of nearly all the members, knew them 
personally, often stopped in their houses when in Chester, 
and had them visit me at my home in Media. 

At Eddystone there was a fireman in the works, Rob- 
ert Campbell, who was very strong for Captain Baker. 
His brother, an officer in the borough of Media, was, on 
the other hand, one of my most persistent and useful 
friends. Thornbury was a stamping ground for Baker's 
friends through the efforts of his lieutenant there, Ed. 
Hickman, who hardly ever failed to turn this township 
up as he wanted it. In Edgmont I had more success, as I 
had the quiet help of the storekeeper, Jesse R. Baker, no 
relative I believe of the candidate. Jim Mackey, the 
blacksmith, Lazells and the Smiths, the latter prominent 
farmers there, the son of one of them, Mr. J. Harvey 
Smith, being at the present time prothonotary of the 
county and a leading political worker; Squire James W. 
Howarth, of Glen Riddle, precinct of Middletown, a tall, 
gaunt, rough-hued but rather bright and able farmer and 
collector of autographs and historian, did all he could for 

187 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

me. Colonel Ned Lyons, the hotel keeper at the Black 
Horse for many years and who has since died, although a 
close personal friend of mine in every way and with 
whom I had always been quite intimate, was equally cor- 
dial with my opponent, Mr. Baker, and in this contest 
was between "the devil and the deep sea," but I believe at 
the last gave his weight, which was no mean advantage, 
to Baker. 

The excitement in the city of Chester at the time just 
before the primaries was equal to that at the period of a 
Presidential election. The streets were filled by partisans 
of both myself and Baker shouting for their respective 
candidates. The last week of the campaign I carefully 
canvassed every precinct in the city and saw nearly every 
worker personally. I began to feel exceedingly hopeful 
the last ten days, and the last three or four days I was 
so sure that I advised my friends that they could count 
me a winner. The convention, held at Media, was a 
stormy one and crowded the court house. Mr. John A. 
Wallace, of the Chester Times, presided as chairman, 
and the balloting showed a safe majority for me. Mr. 
Mercur's vote was very small, the only substantial part 
of it was that which was given to him by our coalition 
in Marple township. 

This victory, which landed me the nominee for the Re- 
publican party for State Senator for the vacant term of 
the Hon. Thomas V. Cooper, was certainly a remarkable 
contest, and considering the forces arrayed against me at 
the commencement of the battle and the strength of the 
organization, which was thoroughly loyal to Baker's side 
at the start, which was a point in his favor; taking 
also the fact that the most prominent politicians in the 
county and perhaps the three foremost citizens — Judge 
Clayton, Captain Isaac Johnson and Thomas V. Cooper 
— were contending for Baker's success, with their skill 
and ability as manipulators and their knowledge of the 
county, it was certainly a master stroke that my friends 
were able to win out. It was, however, due a great deal 

188 



First Defeat — Election to the State Senate 

to the fact that in the course of time the voters became 
tired of a good thing and I had presented my case very 
strongly to the farmers and had thoroughly advertised 
these things to the county and shown up all the weak 
points in the harness of my enemies. 

With this nomination to the State Senate I gained con- 
trol of the organization and practically the leadership of 
the Republican party in the county. I took some rest 
after the campaign was over, but found very soon that I 
had another fight on my hands, as there were a number 
of Republicans who were dissatisfied and would not sup- 
port me for the election. The Democrats nominated a 
bright and popular young lawyer of Chester, Mr. Hiram 
C. Hathaway, as their candidate against me. These Re- 
publicans aided him indirectly and behind the scenes, but 
my friends got wind of what they were doing and began 
to organize for me among the Democrats, and when the 
election began to roll round we had a pretty good contin- 
gent working for my election. I was returned in No- 
vember by a majority of about fifteen hundred and fifty. 



189 



CHAPTER XII 

THE STATE SENATE AND ELECTION TO CONGRESS 

The State Senate did not convene until the winter of 
1891, so that there was quite an interval between my 
nomination and election and taking my seat in the 
Senate. At Harrisburg I found all a very congenial and 
pleasant body to be with. The members were nearly all 
men of rank and position in their locality and communi- 
ties, and had attained their places through several party 
contests, and some of them had been in the Senate for a 
number of terms. Senator Penrose was the president 
pro tem., he having advanced from the lower House to 
the Senate, as I did. At the organization of this body 
he appointed my friend Captain Joseph H. Huddell to 
be his clerk, thus repaying him for his strenuous efforts 
in my behalf during the previous campaigns. There was 
another election for United States Senator at this time, 
making the third time that. I had a vote for a United 
States Senator in caucus and in the House and Senate. 
The vote in the caucus was very close, as there was oppo- 
sition to the nomination of Senator J. Donald Cameron, 
who had gone into the silver movement at Washington 
and to a certain extent injured his prospects with the 
hard money men in the Republican party in the State. 
He was, however, nominated and elected, and this was 
the last term that he served at Washington. I voted for 
him in the joint sessions of the House and Senate and 
received a very nice letter of thanks from him. After 
this I became quite intimate with the Senator, being in 
Washington a good deal more than formerly and seeing 
more of him. I learned to appreciate him very highly. 
Senator Cameron is still living very quietly at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-two, being born the same year as 
Senator Quay — 1833. He was a man of fine address, 
aristocratic bearing, pleasant manners, and one thing 
about him was that he never equivocated, but told you 

191 



The State Senate and Election to Congress 

bluntly and frankly how he stood upon any matters he 
was consulted about. I recall visiting him at his home at 
Washington with an application of my friends from the 
county with regard to the appointment of postmaster in 
the city of Chester at the advent of President Harrison in 
1889. I was opposed to the appointment of the Hon. 
Robert Chadwick, the ex-member of the Legislature. I 
found, however, that Senator Cameron was for him. He 
told me very frankly upon our first interview that he had 
promised him sometime before. Chadwick was appointed 
and served until Cleveland's second term, and made a 
very good postmaster. 

I spoke of Mr. Chadwick in another part of this work 
and that he was a man of very little education but of very 
good horse sense, large experience and a skillful manipu- 
lator at politics, and reliable in all his dealings in busi- 
ness affairs. I recall a ludicrous incident, which showed 
up his lack of the use of words and early education, when 
serving with him in the House. One morning he came 
up from Chester, and at the time Dr. Elwood Harvey of 
that city was very ill and not expected to live. As I knew 
the doctor very well, I asked my colleague, Mr. Chad- 
wick, how he was. He said, "Oh, he can't live; he is in 
a catamoose condition," meaning, of course, comatose. 

On both sides of the house while in the Senate I suc- 
ceeded in securing an appropriation of thirty thousand 
dollars biennially for the Chester Hospital, an institu- 
tion which the county or city never had had before. It 
was signed by the Governor and became a law, and the 
hospital has ever since been a public institution of great 
value because of the number of accidents around and 
near to Chester. 

A short time after I became State Senator and before I 
took my seat, being in control of the organization, my 
friends began discussing the question of who should be 
the Congressman to succeed the Hon. Smedley Darling- 
ton, of Chester County, that county having had her four 
terms according to the agreement between the two mem- 

192 



The State Senate and Election to Congress 

bers of the district and coming over to be our term in 
1890. There were a number of persons suggested for 
the position of representative in Congress, but the two 
most prominent were Hon. John M. Broomall, who had 
served three terms in Congress during the war, and had 
been a very bright and able representative, and Dr. J. L. 
Forwood, of Chester, a distinguished physician and sur- 
geon, who had always been more or less of a politician, 
and while nationally a Democrat, he had many friends 
among the Republicans and those who were of inde- 
pendent inclination. He was a man of a good deal of 
force of character and a good speaker, persuasive and 
popular with the masses, and always had a strong follow- 
ing in the city of Chester, and was elected mayor there 
several times. In fact, it was said that Dr. Forwood 
could be elected mayor any time he wished to be. When 
the free silver craze became rampant and the Democratic 
party seemed to be getting away from its ancient moor- 
ings. Dr. Forwood came over to the Republican party. 
He was one of my active supporters for the State Sen- 
ate and aidfed my success a great deal. It was found after 
the campaign for Congress opened up that Dr. Forwood 
controlled most of the organization in the city and lower 
end of the county, and that Mr. Broomall had the sup- 
port of the upper end and most of the farmers and a 
good many of the older residents. This became so de- 
cided between the two candidates that it threatened to 
divide the organization, and my friends counseled with 
me as to what would be the best plan to prevent this dis- 
organization and split, as it was foreseen that if either 
Broomall or Forwood were nominated, neither one of 
them would control the full party vote. Broomall would 
have received the opposition of the old Hickman forces 
that were so strong against him in the battles he made 
against that distinguished representative, John Hickman, 
who came over to the Whig and Republican parties in 
anti-slavery days and early stages of the war. So strong 
was this feeling that I recall a conversation that I had 

193 



The State Senate and Election to Congress 

with Ed. Hickman, of Thornbury township, the leader 
there, inquiring of him as to the situation and who would 
be the best to nominate for Congress. Mr. Broomall's 
name was mentioned by me, and Ed. Hickman flew ofT 
the handle at once and said, "What ! nominate John M. 
Broomall ; why, all the old friends of John Hickman will 
dig up his bones and run them for Congress against him 
if Broomall is a candidate." Of course, this led to a 
schism, and would have ended in a factional fight that 
would have been disastrous to my leadership. 

My friends then began suggesting that I run for Con- 
gress myself. I scouted the proposition and said it would 
not do, as I had just come through one very heated and 
long contest for the Senate, and I thought the people 
would not stand my running for any more offices. Some 
of my friends, however, began canvassing the situation 
and made report to me and I found at first that the feeling 
was antagonistic to my being a candidate, but the situa- 
tion between Broomall and Forwood became so evenly 
divided and later was so portentous to the party that or- 
ganized leaders and my friends began to come around 
very cordially to my support without any solicitation 
upon my part. As I wanted to have some candidate who 
could unite the party, I even went with the chairman of 
the Republican organization, Josiah Smith, to Mr. Sam- 
uel A. Crozer, of Upland, the noted mill master there, 
and endeavored to secure his consent to be a candidate, 
proffering him the support of the organization. This he 
declined. Finally it resulted in an almost united call for 
myself to go into the contest. Among those who were 
very enthusiastic about my candidacy for Congress and 
who took a great interest in securing me the influence of 
the leading citizens of Chester and members of the Bar 
was Mr. William I. Schaffer. In fact, if it had not been 
for his active effort in this direction I do not think I 
would have consented to be a candidate, although I 
plainly saw that unless some one would stand who could 

194 



The State Senate and Election to Congress 

unite the party there would be trouble between Broomall 
and Forwood. 

My friends got up a very strong call, asking me to be- 
come a candidate, signed by the most prominent men of 
Media and Chester and other members of the county. 
Having the organization well in hand and under my con- 
trol, I found it very much easier to make the contest for 
Congress than I did for the State Senate. The latter 
contest was all adverse work for awhile, but the Congres- 
sional contest seemed to run along by itself. I was sur- 
prised after getting into the contest to find that Captain 
Isaac Johnson entered it also. He had stated to a number 
oi people that he would not be a candidate under any cir- 
cumstances, but many of his warm friends induced him 
to change his mind, which he had a perfect right to do. 
Dr. Forwood was also a candidate, but Mr. Broomall did 
not remain in the contest. The same representative dele- 
gate system prevailed as at the time when I was nomi- 
nated for the State Senate. The year before the conven- 
tion was a boisterous one, but wholly under my domina- 
tion and in the hands of my friends. I had more dele- 
gates than Captain Johnson and Forwood put together 
and was nominated with very little trouble. 

After my nomination for Congress there was consider- 
able agitation about the district as to who would be pitted 
against me as my opponent. Finally a very clever lawyer 
and well-known gentleman in West Chester, Mr. Thomas 
D. Pierce, who had been at one time a Republican and 
who was of independent proclivities, was selected. He 
was chosen for the purpose of securing the Democratic 
vote as well as the Independent Republican vote, but he 
did not get either one of these fully. One of the most 
exciting incidents of the campaign was a debate which 
took place in Horticultural Hall, West Chester. Mr. 
Pierce, after his nomination, was challenged by me to 
this contest, and a number of political clubs and a host 
of my friends from Delaware County and a great many 
of them from West Chester and that county more than 

195 



The State Senate and Election to Congress 

filled the hall. The evening of the argument all the prom- 
inent Republicans and Democrats of the district and lead- 
ing citizens were on the stage. The protective side, of 
course, was taken by myself, and Mr. Pierce argued for 
the more open revenue question, the free trade. The 
audience was very enthusiastic for its partisans and the 
excitement ran high. There wasn't any decision either 
way, and whether I had the best of the argument or not 
I do not know, unless the vote in November is to be con- 
sidered a factor in the decision, which, of course, was in 
my favor. I made quite a number of speeches in my own 
county of Delaware and also at various points in Chester 
County, everywhere being very well received for a com- 
parative stranger. 

Thus it was that I was a State Senator-elect and nomi- 
nee for the House of Representatives at Washington at 
the same time. This gave rise, of course, to considerable 
criticism, and particularly from one or two newspapers. 
The Philadelphia Press was very severe in its animad- 
version editorially against my holding the two offices. 
As I was not to take my seat or to be sworn in to Con- 
gress until December, 1891, I did not see that there was 
any great conflict or principle violated in my position. 
More than this, when the criticism arose in the news- 
paper I examined the records and precedents and found 
there were several persons who had done the very same 
thing. One of these was Judge Wilson, of Tioga County, 
who was a member of the State Senate and served and 
was nominated to Congress at the same time. So also 
was the great soldier. General Daniel Sickles, of New 
York State, who was in the State Senate at Albany when 
he was the nominee for Congress. There was still an- 
other and the strongest reason of them all for my main- 
taining the position of State Senator and nominee to Con- 
gress, and this was that my constituents, particularly the 
Republican organization and the leading men in the 
county interested in securing legislation at Harrisburg. 
wished me to serve the term in the Senate so as to pro- 

196 



The State Senate and Election to Congress 

cure certain laws, and particularly the bill and law for 
the Chester Hospital which was before the Senate. 

After March 4, 1891, my pay commenced as a mem- 
ber of Congress, and I took the pay as Senator and mem- 
ber of Congress and the difference between the two pays 
I donated to the Chester Hospital, amounting to over 
eleven hundred dollars, I believe. As I stated, the most 
important measure that I had in hand and in which I 
took great pride was the appropriation for this hospital. 
All the leading merchants of Chester and manufacturers 
and other citizens of distinction there and in the county 
around, men like the late John B. Roach, the Wetherill 
brothers, Robert and Richard, and the Blakeleys and the 
Blacks all were interested in seeing this measure become 
a law, and I labored earnestly and industriously to effect 
it. It finally passed both houses, and, as I stated, a dele- 
gation came up from the city of Chester and interviewed 
Governor Pattison, and he was good enough to sign the 
measure, and ever since this institution has been a great 
benefaction to the citv of Chester. 



197 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE REPUBLICAN LEAGUE OF CLUBS FIGHT 

About the time the State Senate adjourned there de- 
veloped in the early summer of 1891 one of the most 
curious contests that ever occurred in this State politi- 
cally and probably in any other. In 1888, through the 
efforts of the Hon. Edwin S. Stuart, the ex-mayor of 
Philadelphia and now the ex-Governor of the Common- 
wealth, there was created a League of Republican Clubs 
at Lancaster after the adjournment of the State conven- 
tion. The object of this League was to disseminate in- 
formation about the Republican party and advance the 
interest of protection and to help to elect candidates on 
the National and State tickets when nominated. Every 
club in the State was supposed to belong to it, pay dues, 
and send delegates to the annual convention, which 
elected officers of the League — president, vice-president, 
secretary and treasurer, etc. The first president of the 
League was the Hon. Edwin S. Stuart, and he served for 
three years. He signified he was not going to be a candi- 
date again, and as I had been prominent in the League 
some of my friends asked me to stand for the presidency. 
The Hon. John Dalzell, of Pittsburgh, a member of Con- 
gress there and quite a national politician, was also a 
candidate and was aiming for the United States Senate, 
to take the place of Senator Quay. Major Everett War- 
ren, of Scranton, was also in the field. 

By curious provision in the by-laws there was no limi- 
tation to the number of clubs to be formed, and the re- 
sult was that this fight led up to a great scramble for 
delegates by the institution of what was called "mush- 
room" clubs all over the State. Senator Quay was 
friendly to me and I had pretty generally the support of 
the politicians of the eastern part of the State and the 
city of Philadelphia. Dalzell was supported by Chris. 
Magee and the Allegheny County Republicans and 

199 



The Republican League of Clubs Fight 

throughout the State had quite a following. The con- 
vention took place in Scranton on the 21st of September, 
and was held in a large skating rink. The day was in- 
tensely hot and the place was crowded ; the town was full 
of clubs and bands shouting for their respective candi- 
dates and marching through the streets. The town 
looked like a city on the eve of a great gala day. I had 
badges made of cheap tinplate and these were pinned on 
all my delegates. There were clubs from all parts of the 
State and all sorts of names given to them. In fact, we 
had so many clubs from Delaware County that we ran 
out of good names to give them. It was seen the night 
before the convention that unless they who had control 
of the convention limited the entries of the number of 
clubs there would be confusion and perhaps trouble, as 
the feeling ran very high. My lieutenants, William I. 
Schaffer and the late district attorney of Harrisburg, 
Meade D. Detwiler, Mr. Fred. W. Fleitz, of Scranton, 
and a few others counseled, and it was concluded to 
make a fight to throw out all the mushroom clubs and 
confine election to those clubs which were organized at 
the time the contest began and had paid dues up to and 
including the current year. This was fought by the Dal- 
zell men, but when the convention met it was found that 
we had a good working majority and we put through all 
our plans and I was elected president without much effort. 
It was quite a useless sort of fight and expensive, al- 
though most of the expense for the eastern clubs was 
boine by the politicians in Philadelphia. It did have the 
effect of Mr. Dalzell being a candidate for the United 
States Senate, without any hope of success. I held the 
office of president of this League for two years succes- 
sively. 

The convention of 1892 was held at Williamsport, and 
we had a very fine turn-out. In 1893 we held the annual 
meeting at Reading, and this was a successful conven- 
tion, but I found that it was possible to raise enough 
money by subscriptions from the manufacturers and 

200 



The Republican League of Clubs Fight 

others interested in protection and the success of the Re- 
publican party to about pay the expense of the League for 
each year. It was a labor of love, but gave me extensive 
advertisement throughout the State, particularly the 
Scranton Mushroom Convention, as it was called. The 
contest gave rise to the nickname for me of "J^ck of 
Clubs," and one of the many cries of the marching clubs 
was "Tin, tin, American tin, Ned goes out, and Jack 
comes in." This League has to a large extent since the 
abolition of the representative system of voting become 
obsolete, and while Republican clubs are kept up there is 
no annual convention nor any gatherings. It was a good 
primary school for young politicians, and many of them 
made their debut by going as delegates to these annual 
League conventions and making nominations of the can- 
didates or speaking in the convention. I was succeeded 
in this League by the Hon. Everett Warren, of Scranton, 
and for a number of years it was quite an institution and 
adjunct to the Republican party of the State, and in my 
opinion did a great deal of good in giving the party a 
unity and fighting strength and spirit that it would not 
otherwise have had. 



201 



CHAPTER XIV 

CONGRESS AND LIFE IN WASHINGTON 

I TOOK my seat in the Fifty-second Congress, to which 
I was elected in 1890, the first Monday in December, 
1891. It is a queer thing in the Constitution that the 
representatives in Congress are elected one year and do 
not take their seats until fully a year after. It was the 
intention of the Constitution to send members to the 
lower House fresh from the body of the people, but by 
reason of this appointing and manner of electing it does 
not do so, and very often a new question will arise be- 
tween the election and the time the member takes his 
seat. 

The Fifty-second Congress was overwhelmingly Dem- 
ocratic. It was the one that was elected just after the 
celebrated Fifty-first Congress, which passed the Mc- 
Kinley tariff bill, and by reason of the misrepresentation 
by the Democrats of this measure, which was one of the 
best ever put on the statute books, the people were for the 
time being deceived and the Democratic Congress was 
elected. If I remember rightly there were only eighty- 
seven or eighty-eight Republican members in the Fifty- 
second Congress, the Democrats surrounding us on both 
sides of the House. I took a house on Rhode Island Ave- 
nue, No. 1708, in Washington, D. C, and removed my 
family there temporarily. Owing to the factional fight 
in my county when I was elected in 1890, I was uncer- 
tain whether I would be renominated in 1892. It would 
have been unfortunate, probably, to have bought a piece 
of property. Real estate, however, in Washington at that 
time was very low, and there were properties to purchase 
which would have realized considerable money. Presi- 
dent Harrison was on the last run of his term and the 
National election of 1892 was approaching. 

When I entered the Fifty-second Congress I was suf- 
fering with iritis and wore a patch over my eye by orders 

203 



Congress and Life in Washington 

of the oculist. Uriah H. Painter, since deceased, of West 
Chester, who had been for a long time the correspondent 
in Washington, was in the press gallery, and when 
asked by some one of the newspaper correspondents who 
the new representative was from the Sixth Pennsylvania 
district, that being the number of it then, he said : "Oh, 
that is Jack Robinson; he has a black eye, the result of 
his first night in Washington, I guess." This interview 
was sent to the Philadelphia Press, and the next day 
copied by the West Chester Local Nezvs, the leading 
paper in circulation in our Congressional district at that 
time. This paper took an electrotype cut, ran a tack in 
one of my eyes, and inserted it with the reading matter, 
and it gave the appearance of a person with a black eye. 
This, of course, was entirely false so far as the remark 
was concerned, and libelous both in the pictures and in the 
matter stated in print. I immediately telegraphed to my 
friend and attorney in West Chester, Mr. C. Wesley Tal- 
bot, to issue a capias and bring suit for criminal libel 
against the West Chester Local Nezvs. This was done, 
and my wife and I and other witnesses, with the oculist 
who had attended me, went before the grand jury, a true 
bill was found against the newspaper owners, Messrs. 
Hodgson & Thompson, and the case went to trial. I 
secured the service, as assistant with Mr. Talbot, of the 
late Mr. Rufus P. Shapley, of Philadelphia, one of the 
best criminal lawyers in the State or country, an old per- 
sonal friend of mine. Mr. Shapley tried and pleaded 
the case, as did my attorney, Mr. Talbot, with great 
shrewdness, and as the whole matter was outrageously 
false and libelous, there was nothing for the jury to do 
but bring in a verdict of guilty. This was all I wanted, 
and while I could have sent the proprietor of the news- 
paper to prison, it was my object only to vindicate myself 
of the slander of Painter. 

After this suit and verdict in my favor in West Ches- 
ter, the Philadelphia Press was very much agitated for 
fear they would have a verdict brought in against them. 

204 



Congress and Life in Washington 

However, this being a large and influential paper, and 
Republican, through the intermediation of friends of 
mine who did not wish to see the Philadelphia Press 
prosecuted, I finally consented to receive an apology, 
which was made editorially, and this closed the whole in- 
cident. It illustrated "how great a smoke a little fire 
kindleth." Here was a fool remark made by a fool re- 
porter, a lie in the first place, copied and put in the press 
without investigation, which brought two newspapers 
into serious trouble and to a great deal of expense, as 
they had to pay all the costs in the two suits. 

The Fifty-second Congress was organized by the elec- 
tion or the choice of the Democratic Congressman Crisp, 
of Georgia, for Speaker over Vest, of Missouri, and I 
with the other members went through the usual process 
of drawing lots for a seat. I drew a particularly good 
one, down near the front and to the right-hand side of 
the House, but as the Democrats were in complete con- 
trol it did not make much difiference where I sat. Mr. 
Crisp very kindly placed me upon the Naval and Invalid 
Pensions Committees. The latter gave me a good deal 
of work to do, but in the former most of the work was 
done by the majority members, the chairman being a 
noted newspaper man — Hon. Amos G. Cummings. 

I soon made the acquaintance of a number of very 
warm-hearted and generous friends on both sides of the 
House, Democrats as well as Republicans. Of course, 
Mr. Reed, of Maine, I had known by reputation, but be- 
came acquainted with him for the first time on the floor 
of the House. Major McKinley, of Ohio, was not a 
member of Congress, having been beaten in the election 
on account of the Democrats redistricting his Congres- 
sional locality. He lost out by a few votes, but this 
proved a great card in the end in his favor, as he after- 
ward became the Governor of Ohio, and from that 
stepped to the Presidency in the celebrated campaign of 
1896. 

One of the most lovable characters that I met in this 

205 



Congress and Life in Washington 

Congress and who was with me until his death was 
Myron B. Wright, who was from Susquehanna, Pennsyl- 
vania, and was the chief officer in the First National 
Bank of that place. Our families became very intimate, 
and as he sat next to me on the floor of the House our 
associations were very close. 

Hon. James B. Wadsworth. of New York, a son of 
General Wadsworth, who was killed in the Wilderness 
during the Civil War, who represented the Geneseo dis- 
trict in the northwestern part of the Empire State, was 
another Republican in this Congress whose friendship I 
enjoyed during the whole time I was there. He was 
chairman of the Committee on Agriculture in the Fifty- 
fourth Congress, but in the Fifty-second and Fifty-third 
of course served the minority on that committee. He 
has a son of the same name, who has just been nominated 
and elected United States Senator from the Empire State 
under the primary system, which was tried there for the 
first time in 1914. 

The Hon. Henry H. Bingham, of Philadelphia, since 
deceased, a brave soldier of the Civil War and a very 
noted Republican member of the House, was probably 
the oldest member then there, unless it could have been 
Holman, of Indiana, who was known as the great Dem- 
ocratic objector. General Bingham, as he was intimately 
known, was one of the most useful and intelligent mem- 
bers, and had made himself thoroughly acquainted with 
all the rules, and his long experience had given him 
knowledge of the details of legislation, especially that re- 
garding the postal service, upon which portion of admin- 
istrative affairs he was an expert. 

Among other Philadelphia members, Hon. Charles 
O'Neil, who has since died, had been in Congress for a 
long time. He came to me upon my first or second visit 
on the floor of the House, and in a very fatherly way, 
which I appreciated very much, gave me a number of 
pointers which I found very useful to me in subsequent 
matters connected with legislation and the work and 

206 



Congress and Life in Washington 

duties before me. He particularly laid stress upon one 
fact, which I found was a secret to the success of a great 
many members in their associations and work on the 
floor; this was not to address the House upon any sub- 
ject unless it was one upon which the member was fa- 
miliar and one in which he had some interest and that 
his constituents required him to either oppose or defend. 
I followed this advice so closely that I do not think I 
made more than five speeches in the six years that I was 
in Congress, and only two of them were of any length 
whatever, one being upon the Dingley tariff bill and the 
other on the attempt made by the Democrats to lower the 
price per ton of steel rails and the attempt to introduce a 
Government armor plant. 

Mr. Speaker Crisp, of Georgia, was the ablest Demo- 
crat, in my judgment, of all the members on that side of 
the House that I met with during these two years. He 
was well posted upon every question, and particularly so 
upon parliamentary law and the work of legislation of 
any committee. He was born in England, but came to 
this country in early life and settled in the South. He 
was a man of very broad and liberal mind and very fair 
and impartial in his decisions. He was the only member 
on the Democratic side of the House who seemed not to 
be afraid of Tom Reed, of Maine. He would cross 
swords with this leader when he saw fit, which very few 
of the members of the other side of the House would do. 

Holman, of Indiana, of whom I previously have 
spoken, had been at various times a member and was an 
old-fashioned Hoosier farmer, but thoroughly drilled in 
matters connected with legislation. While he objected to 
and no doubt succeeded in defeating some good measures, 
his objections to many bills that were not proper ones to 
have introduced or passed saved the Government hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars, and it is such men as this, 
who turn up in nearly every Congress, who are needed at 
Washington or in the State capitals to prevent that 
tendency to squander the people's money which is so apt 

207 



Congress and Life in Washington 

to be a mania with some of the poHticians who succeed in 
getting elected to these bodies. 

Springer, of Illinois, who always came on to the floor 
of the House with a pink carnation in his buttonhole and 
looking as if he came out of a bandbox, was prominent 
in the affairs of this Congress and also the Fifty-third. 
He took a leading hand in the work preparatory to the 
Centennial Exposition in 1893 in Chicago and aided in 
getting the appropriation from the Federal Government 
for it, and was very often upon his feet whenever any 
matters concerning his State were before Congress. 

Hatch, of Missouri, was very well versed in agricul- 
tural legislation and farming matters and was a type of 
the Western farmer. Nearly all the members of the west- 
ern part of the United States in this Congress were 
tainted at this time with the free silver craze. The six- 
teen to one fallacy was rampant and William Jennings 
Bryan, who has since cut such a wide swath in the affairs 
of the nation, was a member and one of the most active 
and industrious, always anxious to put himself to the 
fore, a speaker of more than ordinary ability and elo- 
quence. At one time during this Congress he secured, by 
resolution, permission to have the hall of the House in 
the evening for the purpose of delivering a lecture. It 
was a very unusual thing to grant this privilege, but I 
recall it was well attended and that Bryan, who had not 
then become famous, held his audience and made a very 
good impression upon them. I became acquainted with 
Bryan, as well as with a number of other members on his 
side of the House and from other States — Blount from 
Georgia and Myers from New Orleans. Blount was the 
personage whom President Cleveland sent as minister to 
Hawaii to pull down the flag, and was afterward known 
as paramount Blount. He had the broadest Southern ac- 
cent of any of the members from that part of the United 
States, and I could easily recognize him, when speaking, 
with my eyes closed. 

One of the singular things about Southern members 

208 



Congress and Life in Washington 

was that they usually dragged in something in their 
speeches about the Constitution of the United States, and 
they were always familiar with it and appeared to wish 
to clinch their arguments with some portion of it that 
would prove the unconstitutionality of the measure be- 
fore the House. I often thought this quite odd, because 
it was from this part of the United States that the rebel- 
lion cropped up and from which the attempt was made to 
strike down not only the Constitution, but the very pil- 
lars of our Government. When I heard these Southern 
members discussing the constitutionality of some measure 
it reminded me of that story of a man who was about to 
take a drink of whisky at the bar, when an older gentle- 
man tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Young man, 
don't you touch that vicious stuff ; it will ruin your con- 
stitution." "Oh," said the other man, as he swallowed 
the beverage, "I have lost my constitution long ago; I 
am now living on the by-laws." My associations with 
the members of President Harrison's cabinet during the 
short portion of that time that I sat in Washington while 
he was President were very pleasant, and they were all 
very able and prominent men. Charles Foster, of Ohio, 
known as "Calico Foster," was a particularly affable and 
pleasant companion and widely known for his experience 
and knowledge of revenue matters. He was Secretary 
of the Treasury, and a very good one. 

Shortly after settling in Washington, in 1892, I called 
at the State Department to pay my respects to the Hon. 
James G. Blaine, the most prominent man in America 
probably at that day. He was not in good health and 
lived in what was known as the "Red House," on the 
corner of Lafayette Square opposite the White House, 
a very historical old building noted as having been occu- 
pied temporarily by more than one President while re- 
pairs were going on in the White House. In the great 
tragedy which lost to the country the services of the im- 
mortal Abraham Lincoln, William H. Seward was living 
there, was ill, in bed, and was attacked there by one of 

209 



Congress and Life in Washington 

the conspirators — Payne — and had it not been for the 
courage and bravery of a man named George Robinson, 
who was his attendant, he undoubtedly would have lost 
his life. This Robinson, I believe, afterward became pay- 
master in the army for this distinguished service. 

Another historic fact in point about the "Red House," 
the present site of which is occupied by the Lafayette 
Theatre, was the old sycamore tree which stood in front 
for many a year. It was a conspicuous landmark and 
had a noted historic significance, as it was near this tree 
that the late General Daniel E. Sickles shot and killed Mr. 
Key, the brother of Francis Key, the author of the "Star 
Spangled Banner." This led up to a memorable trial in 
the courts of the District, in which General Sickles was 
defended by Edwin M. Stanton, then one of the leading 
lawyers of the country and coming rapidly to the front 
as a national character, together with other counsel. He 
was acquitted through the unwritten law, the assassina- 
tion of Key being due to a discovery by General Sickles 
of an intrigue between the man that was shot and his 
wife. They lived on the opposite side of Lafayette 
Square, and Key was in the habit of receiving signals by 
means of a handkerchief from the second story windows. 
It was just after one of these signals was put out from 
the window that the Union general, who afterward so 
greatly distinguished himself in the Civil War, met Key 
and without any ceremony whipped out a gun, shot and 
killed him. A great many people were in the habit of 
taking pieces of this sycamore tree away with them as 
souvenirs on their way through Washington, and in the 
course of time it came to be pretty badly damaged, but 
survived the removal of the "Red House" some time, and 
was a well-known landmark for years, to be observed by 
people of the locality and called to the attention of visi- 
tors on account of the tragedy that had been committed 
at the foot of it. This shooting of Key occurred in 1859, 
I think, and was one of the sensational trials which was 
read with interest and watched all over the country. It 

210 



Congress and Life in Washington 

was a valuable point to lawyers, as it was among the 
first of the trials where emotional insanity or the un- 
written law was urged as a defense for homicide that 
took place under such circumstances as this Sickles-Key 
tragedy. 

Blaine received me very cordially, and before I could 
more than tell him the district from which I came in 
Pennsylvania he said : "Ah ! yes, you are from the 
Quaker district of Chester-Delaware, which with the 
western reserve of Ohio are probably two of the greatest 
Congressional districts in the United States in their in- 
telligence and character of the constituency. You had one 
very distinguished man representing that district when 
I first came to Washington — John Hickman. I knew 
him very well, and he came very near being President, as 
he was prominently mentioned for the Vice-Presidency at 
the time Lincoln was nominated in Chicago the first time, 
and would probably have succeeded him after Lincoln's 
death had he taken that post." Blaine also spoke to me 
about my relatives in western Pennsylvania, asking par- 
ticularly about one of them, my uncle Frank, who was 
connected with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which 
passed by the old homestead of the Blaines in East 
Brownsville, Washington County. He seemed to know 
as much about my family and predecessors as I knew my- 
self. This was Blaine's characteristic — his memory for 
details of locality and family history and matters perti- 
nent to individuals. Mr. Blaine had a great sorrow in 
Washington in the loss of his son. Walker Blaine, who 
was mentally a very able successor to his father and did 
a great deal of the work in the State Department. I 
think he died of pneumonia. It was a great loss to the 
secretary, and no doubt hastened his own demise. 

One of the troubles that a Congressman had on his 
hands in those days, when civil service had not been so 
rigid as it has been up to the Wilson administration (un- 
der this latter administration it appears to have been 
thrown to the four winds entirely through the patronage 

211 



Congress and Life in Washington 

distribution), was the appointments. My predecessor, 
the Hon. Smedley Darlington, had placed nearly all the 
offices allotted to the district before my time, and I did 
not remove any of them until there was a resignation or 
death. Some of them I did not find out belonged to the 
district until they got into some trouble or other and then 
they came to me to get them out of it. The most trying 
of all matters connected with this patronage business was 
the post office appointments, and I had more trouble over 
my own home appointment at Media than any other in 
the district. I had named for this place Mr. Henry C. 
Snowden, Sr., still living in Media at a hale old age, do- 
ing good service for the county in the court house as as- 
sistant county treasurer. This nomination created a fac- 
tional fight, as nearly all the adherents of my opponents 
for Congress and for the State Senate in 1889 took sides 
with the Cooper following and tried to defeat this ap- 
pointment. 

John Wanamaker, as is well known, was the Postmas- 
ter General of the Harrison administration, having been 
appointed at the very last moment when he formed his 
cabinet on March 4, 1889, for his service in raising the 
money from the manufacturers and others and financing 
the campaign for Mr. Quay in New York which won out 
the election in 1888 so brilliantly for Colonel Quay. It is 
wonderful to what ends some persons will go when they 
get excited over a political matter, and this post office 
squabble gave rise to all sorts of bitterness. Letters were 
written to Mr. Wanamaker by a number of people in 
Media assailing Mr. Snowden's character, which had 
never been in dispute before, and, of course, the Post- 
master General hung the matter up and it remained in 
abeyance for quite a long time. A compromise was finally 
arranged through the offices of the late Jared Darlington, 
a warm friend of mine and also of Mr. Snowden's and 
of Postmaster General Wanamaker's. It was suggested 
that I name Henry C. Snowden, Jr., as postmaster in- 
stead of the father. This satisfied me and all my friends, 

212 



Congress and Life in Washington 

as it gave me not only the son as the head of the office, 
but I had the son appoint the father as deputy postmaster 
and the latter was actually the postmaster during the 
term. I must say, in justice to President Harrison, that 
he was in favor of having my appointment sent to the 
Senate and confirmed, and it was only the position of 
Wanamaker that held it up for so long. In point of fact, 
toward the close of the Presidential contest of 1892, Har- 
rison wired Wanamaker that he wished the appointment 
made, and it was this mandate from the President that 
brought about the compromise which led up to the ap- 
pointment of Mr. Snowden, Jr., instead of the father. 
The only interest that I had in the matter was to give the 
citizens of Media, both Republicans and Democrats, the 
very best postmaster that I could pick out. The person 
upon whom the other faction had centered to oppose 
Snowden was Mr. Isaac Ivison, proprietor of the Charter 
House, at that time a citizen and Republican against 
whom nothing could be said and who had been a warm 
supporter of mine in all previous contests. Mr, Snow- 
den, however, had done very able service for the party 
for quite a long time and was getting up in years. He 
had been secretary of the county committee for a num- 
ber of terms, and I felt that this appointment v/as more 
satisfactory to the party as he stood in the county at that 
time than the nomination of Ivison, and not because of 
any personal or political opposition to the latter gentle- 
man. 

Mr. Henry C. Snowden, Sr.. is quite a humorous per- 
sonage, and during one of our visits with the delegation 
to the White House in his behalf the President gave us 
an interview. It was the first time I had the honor to 
introduce Mr. Snowden to the head of the nation. After 
the interview I asked Mr. Snowden what he thought of 
the President's manner and whether our arguments in his 
behalf would be potential and whether his chances would 
be good. He said to me, 'I'm afraid I won't get it. I 
never had much faith in these dish-faced men." I did not 

213 



Congress and Life in Washington 

exactly catch on to what he meant at first, but it soon 
struck in upon me that it was the appearance of the late 
President's visage, which resembled to some extent an 
inverted dish. Hardly a proper application to apply to 
the executive of eighty-five millions of people, but as I 
never heard it before it may count for something with 
others. I put it in for what it is worth. However, it 
didn't turn out exactly as Mr. Snowden anticipated, be- 
cause he really did get the equivalent of the appointment, 
and the whole affair and excitement closed very happily 
for him and myself. 

The Democratic sweep in 1890 brought into Congress 
a great many new men, among them Professor William 
L. Wilson, of West Virginia, whose name is attached to 
the Wilson free trade tariff bill. He was leader in the 
House, inasmuch as he was followed in all party meas- 
ures, and was close to President Cleveland. In many re- 
spects William L. Wilson resembled the present President 
of the United States, Woodrow Wilson. They were both 
spare in stature and scholastic in appearance, men of let- 
ters and professors in colleges. Before going into public 
life William L. Wilson had served for a short time in 
the Confederate Army and was for some time president 
of a college in West Virginia. 

One of the big guns on the Democratic side of the 
House who was in evidence a great deal in debate and 
when a speech of some importance was to be made was 
the Hon. Bourke Cochran, of New York. Mr. Reed, on 
the Republican side, and this gentleman were very 
chummy during their sojourn in the House and generally 
lunched together in the House restaurant. Cochran was 
a Tammany man and had been sent to Washington by 
this Democratic organization of New York, but he was 
of too independent mind to remain in the traces very long 
and jumped from them occasionally, and the result was 
that Croker, who was the boss in New York at that time, 
had another man nominated in his district and the coun- 
try lost his able service, for he was a man born for po- 

214 



Congress and Life in Washington 

litical life, a debater and speaker of the highest caliber 
and quality. 

The wit of the House was John Allen, a Democrat 
from Tupelo, Alabama. He never made a speech that 
he did not illustrate it with some story, and he usually 
told a story rather than make a speech. The most incisive 
and logical speaker upon our side of the House, a very 
widely read and experienced man, was Sereno Payne, of 
New York. 

The ablest man in the Pennsylvania delegation by all 
odds from a legislative standpoint was the Hon. John 
Dalzell, of Pittsburgh. He was a Yale man and did not 
enter Congress until he had acquired a reputation at the 
Bar and was one of the leaders of it in Pittsburgh. He 
never spoke that he was not listened to with the greatest 
attention, and his addresses to the body upon all sub- 
jects were prepared with the greatest care and were fine 
specimens of diction and data, exhausting the subject and 
the argument generally upon the topic before the House. 

Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massachusetts, who has since 
become a United States Senator from that State, was one 
of the dignified and aristocratic members who received 
attention more from the weight of his learning than from 
general respect and appreciation of the man personally. 
He and Mr. Reed were very intimate and generally con- 
ferred about a good deal of the legislation on the Repub- 
lican side. There was one queer thing about Speaker 
Reed. As is well known, he was a large man, elephantine 
in appearance, and would come lumbering into the 
hall of the House just before it opened like a great mam- 
moth or some other powerful animal and, gazing around 
the body, give a few grunts and then ascend the rostrum 
where the Speaker sat and take the gavel preparatory to 
the chaplain opening the House with prayer. During the 
intervals of legislation, when the House was in committee 
of the v/hole, some member usually presided and Speaker 
Reed would chat around with the members. Some days 
he would come and sit down alongside of you and put his 

215 



Congress and Life in Washington 

hand on your back and call you by your first name and 
talk very familiarly and pleasantly with you. The next 
day he would hardly recognize you, and if you spoke to 
him would simply reply by an inaudible grunt. There 
was no questioning his great powers of mind and intel- 
lect. He seemed to grasp a subject intuitively and to rea- 
son it out with mathematical precision and exactness. As 
a close observer I thought from what I saw that his health 
was not good, and after he left Congress, for he resigned 
several years ago, feeling that he had not done his duty 
in the way of providing for his family, he opened a law 
ofiice in New York, and not long afterward, on a visit to 
Washington, he died there at the Shoreham Hotel. 

I had one very pleasant experience with Mr. Reed. 
Hon. Thomas M. Bayne, of Allegheny City, who had 
served in Congress for several years from that place, and 
Reed and myself went on a visit to Pittsburgh to one of 
the annual dinners of the Americus Club there. On our 
way out we had a social game of cards, and it was an 
opportunity to catch the little peculiarities in Mr. Reed's 
make up. He seemed to be at times dreamy and absent- 
minded, but when brought up to the subject his flashes 
of wit and learning would be exceedingly interesting and 
were greatly appreciated by those who were of the party. 
He spoke at the dinner of the Americus Club, which is 
always held upon the anniversary of General Grant's 
birth, and I recall the magnificent tribute that he paid to 
that great soldier of the Civil War. It was not a prepared 
address, or at least not a carefully prepared one, but was 
off-hand. He never spoke at length, and his great point 
in debate in the House was interrogating the members of 
the other side. He had a way of asking and questioning 
or punctuating some remarks of the member on the other 
side who was speaking that would entirely overthrow his 
balance and destroy his argument. Nearly the whole 
Democratic body of the House seemed to be afraid of his 
powerful intellectuality. He was aggressive and had a 
habit of saying some rather sarcastic things sometimes 

216 



Congress and Life in Washington 

about public men and members of the House. This, of 
course, did not tend to make him popular, and when it 
came to the question of who would be Speaker — Reed or 
Major McKinley, of Ohio— the latter, who never made 
an enemy in his life and who was always suave and par- 
ticularly pleasant with every one and willing to assist 
them whether of his party or of the other side, had no 
opposition and could easily have defeated Mr. Reed for 
the Speakership, as he did for the Presidency at St. Louis 
in 1896. Mr. Reed rather felt the defeat in 1896, and it 
was not long after this that he gave up legislation and 
political life together, and died shortly after. He was 
unquestionably one of the greatest men this country ever 
produced. His speech upon the Wilson tariff bill from 
the Republican standpoint was a philosophic argument, 
representing the question from the sternest and severest 
logical standpoint. There was really no answer to be 
made to it. 

Mr. Grover Cleveland was inaugurated March 4, 1893. 
and immediately called Congress together. The day of 
the inauguration was a frightfully cold, snowy, wintry 
one. The President took the oatli and delivered his in- 
augural speech bareheaded from the front of the capitol 
steps, on the platform erected for that purpose, amid all 
the severity of the winter's gale, snow and sleet, and 
never seemed to mind it at all. The outgoing President, 
Benjamin Harrison, seemed a small man alongside the 
President-elect, Mr. Cleveland. The Wilson tariff bill 
had evidently iDcen prepared in the interval between the 
inauguration of Mr. Cleveland and the meeting of the 
Congress, and was ready for the committee. There were 
very few hearings given the manufacturers and it was 
pushed through with railroad speed. One of the most 
brilliant pictures I ever saw in my life was the day in 
which the great debate took place. When the bill was 
passed the rules were thrown down for the admittance of 
ladies to the hall of the House, and their presence on the 
floor, in the galleries, and all round added greatly and 

217 



Congress and Life in Washington 

gave a touch of color to the scene. Many men of noto- 
riety and distinction were there from all over the country. 
William L. Wilson and Bourke Cochran sustained the 
burden of the debate on the Democratic side, while Reed 
and Mr. Nelson Dingley, of Maine, Dalzell, of Pennsyl- 
vania, Payne, of New York, and Deliver, of Illinois, 
were the wheel horses upon the Republican side. It was 
an historic sight and one not easily forgotten. 

In the Fifty-fourth Congress the Republicans had a 
good working majority and Mr. Thomas B. Reed, of 
Maine, was nominated in the caucus and elected the Re- 
publican Speaker in the House. In this Congress I was 
fortunate enough to have an appointment assigned to me 
by the "Slate Committee," as it is called, which dis- 
tributes the offices allotted to the various members on the 
floor. I was first assigned the carpentership, which I 
offered to Captain Henry G. Cobaugh, who had been one 
of my stanch political friends from the time I first went 
to Washington. The carpenter of the House attends to 
all the repair work during the interval of adjournment, 
and refurnishes the desks, carpets and personal property 
on the floor, which he purchases through an appropria- 
tion given to him for this purpose. As Mr. Cobaugh 
was in the insurance business, he did not care to take up 
the position I first offered him, so in looking round I 
found that I could give him instead a place as doorkeeper, 
and one with entrances to the House floor which would 
bring him into close communion with all the members. 
He was a very efficient and intelligent official, and after- 
ward became captain of the guards at the United States 
Treasury Building, and I believe still occupies this place, 
a very extensive one. 

During the time I was at Washington I had the Rose 
Tree Fox Hunting Club down to visit me, and they en- 
joyed the trip very much. Nearly all the old mem- 
bers who have since passed away were in the body, 
and some others. They came in their fox hunting 
dress and created quite a sensation for a time 

218 



Congress and Life in Washington 

around the capital as they passed in and about to 
see the sights there. Had it been a half-century 
or more earlier, it would not have been anything to see 
a member of the House from Maryland or Virginia come 
in on the floor in this sort of rig. Hon. John Randolph, 
of Roanoke, the celebrated statesman, was accustomed to 
so appear, as well as others whom I cannot recall at pres- 
ent. I had my friend and secretary, Mr. Henry Gilpm 
Clements, act as major domo for the parties, and as he 
knew all the ins and outs of Washington, from the bril- 
liant to the seamy side, he gave the Rose Tree boys, old 
and young, quite a run for their money, and they all 
spoke in high praise of the manner in which he conducted 
them about the capital and his knowledge of the promi- 
nent men and places there. It was a great outing and 
long remembered by the Fox Hunting Club. I had at the 
banquet which I gave in the evening a number of my 
classmates in the Naval Academy, who were then sta- 
tioned in Washington, among them Commander R. M. G. 
Brown, who has since died, who was the hero of the 
Trenton in the hurricane at Samoa; Charles W. Stone, or 
"Doggie Stone," as we used to nickname him at the 
school, who represented the Carnegies at Washington and 
was on the retired list, and who also has since passed 
away; Commander Davenport, Singer and some others. 
A very frequent visitor at our home was the Hon. 
Charles A. Boutelle, of Maine, who had been in Con- 
gress for some time and was an experienced politician 
and a speaker of more than ordinary capacity. He was 
chairman of the Naval Committee in the Fifty-fourth 
Congress. Mr. Reed appointed me upon the same com- 
mittee. I served with him there during that Congress, 
and our relations were very agreeable and pleasant at all 
times, socially and officially. 

I had the honor of appointing several cadets to An- 
napolis and West Point during my three terms in Con- 
gress. The appointments to the Military Academy at 
West Point I had selected by competitive examination, 

219 



Congress and Life in Washington 

and generally found it to work out very well ; but in the 
appointments to the Naval Academy, being a graduate 
myself of that institution, I felt I could size up the capac- 
ity of the young gentlemen to whom I tendered the honor 
better myself than could a board of examiners. One of 
the young men now living and a professor at the Naval 
Academy, standing very high in service, was Charles 
Lewis Leiper, of Chester, the son of Captain Thomas I. 
Leiper. The latter was a brave and gallant soldier of 
the Civil War, and his son went through the Academy 
with honors and graduated number two in his class. He 
was constitutionally unfit to go to sea, on account of sea- 
sickness, and took over a professorship at the Academy 
and is doing good service for the Government there at 
the present day. He graduated in 1896. I also had an- 
other appointment in that class — my wife's brother, 
Charles Edward Gilpin. There was a judge from Mich- 
igan, I forget his name, who had a Naval Academy va- 
cancy open, and I having a West Point one, we made a 
trade, and in this way I got Mr. Gilpin appointed to the 
naval service. He also graduated very satisfactorily in 
his class and served with distinction for a number of 
years afterward. He was in the Philippines and was 
wounded in the arm there while in command of one of 
the small gunboats. He also was in the expedition to 
Pekin under Admiral Seymour, of the British Navy, 
which was repulsed and had a hard time of it, as at one 
time it was very nearly captured by the Chinese Boxers. 
He was in several brushes with the enemy at this time at 
Tien-Tsing, and for this he was promoted three numbers 
and mentioned in general orders. He is not in the service 
at present, but represents a large manufacturing firm in 
Boston, Massachusetts. 

I had the honor of being appointed by Mr. Speaker 
Crisp in 1892 to be one of the members of the Board of 
Visitors to the United States Naval Academy, and re- 
turned to my old alma mater at Annapolis with my fam- 
ily, as all the members of the board took their families 

220 



Congress and Life in Washington 

with them. It was an exceedingly enjoyable visit. I 
presume that Mr. Crisp gave me this appintment on ac- 
count of my being a graduate of the Academy. I was 
again appointed in 1896. That year the board selected 
me as president and also for the work of addressing the 
graduating class in the chapel. I had the distinction of 
doing this, and it was a very agreeable service for me, 
taking me back as it did many years to the time when I 
was a cadet at the same place. Of course, the institution 
had greatly changed and improved. Much new ground 
had been purchased and new buildings built, a fine new 
chapel among the number, and through the generosity of 
Colonel Robert Means Thompson, a graduate of my class, 
the handsome bronze doors on the chapel were installed. 
He was instrumental also, and, in point of fact, the chief 
person, in engineering the work of building the new im- 
provements at the institution. His great interest in the 
navy, and in the Academy especially, every one now 
knows. He is the president of the Orford Copper Com- 
pany, of New York, and is well known not only nation- 
ally, but internationally. He was assigned to entertain 
the Duke of Battenberg when he was over with his 
Majesty's ship Drake a few years ago, and also presi- 
dent of the Olympic games held at Copenhagen, I think 
in 1913. 

Colonel Thompson entertained all the living members 
of the class to which he and I belonged, in June, 1914, the 
fiftieth anniversary of our entrance to the United States 
Naval Academy, at his magnificent residence in Sheri- 
dan's Circle, Washington, upon which he has lavished all 
that good taste can collect and wealth can buy. He has 
always taken the deepest interest in his classmates, 
whether they have been graduates of the Academy or not, 
and in many instances has helped them out of difficulties 
or aided them to secure a substantial footing in the world. 
Colonel Thompson in the early part of the year 1914 
secured the services of one of our classmates, Commo- 
dore William H. Behler, who is on the retired list, to hunt 

221 



Congress and Life in Washington 

up all the members of the class of 1864 and invite them 
to this reunion at his residence in Washington on the 3d 
of June. Commodore Behler was given a free hand and 
took a great deal of pains to ascertain the situation and 
location of every living member that had entered in 1864 
at Newport. We all met at the colonel's residence on the 
evening of the 3d of June, and were given a most mag- 
nificent banquet. The decorations and appointments were 
very neat and appropriate, referring to naval matters 
and our class, giving pictures of each one of the members 
so far as they could be taken from the files of the 
Academy, many of them having been secured from those 
that were taken when the classmen entered the Academy 
fifty years prior to this event. With the menu these 
souvenirs were at our plates when we sat down to dinner, 
and it was a surprise to all to find so many living and 
speaking members of the old times in the faces of our 
fellow classmates who a half-century before had been 
boys with us at Newport and had started in a career in 
the navy, all expecting and looking forward to being 
admirals. 

A very sad occurrence took place at the close of the 
Thompson dinner. One of the classmates who had been 
present from New York State, from Schuylersville, Mr. 
Alva B. Carpenter, who was greatly interested in all the 
things connected with the dinner and had written a num- 
ber of times to Mr. Behler regarding it, left about mid- 
night with two of the class for his hotel, the New Wil- 
lard, apparently in the best of health and spirits. On the 
street car he fell to the floor with an affection of the 
heart and died within a few minutes. The matter was 
telephoned to Colonel Thompson upon knowledge of it 
coming to the attention of the authorities. Colonel 
Thompson gave orders that all that was necessary should 
be done for our deceased classmate to make his funeral 
proper, and that as many of the class as could spare the 
time should accompany the remains to the home of the 
deceased member. Commodore Behler and Captain 

222 



Congress and Life in Washington 

Creecy took an active part in the matter and went to 
Schuylersville, where they saw that all the appointments 
of Mr. Carpenter's funeral were carried out in an appro- 
priate manner. It appears that he had been ill for some 
time prior to the dinner and had consulted the doctor, 
who told him of his heart trouble and advised him to 
avoid intense excitement or any undue exertion. Letters 
that he wrote to Mr. Behler showed that he was exceed- 
ingly desirous of going to the dinner, and nothing could 
have occurred that would have pleased him more, as it 
appears by what took place at the banquet. He was one 
of the most interested and took the most enjoyment out 
of all of it. Of course, it was a very sad termination to 
the afifair, but it could not have ended better for Mr. Car- 
penter than it did, because of the circumstance that his 
classmates all were near him and took extra pains to see 
that he had every attention paid to him. 

A day or two after this dinner there was a dedication 
of the monument to the Confederate soldiers and sailors 
in Arlington Cemetery. I received an invitation to this 
afiFair, and as I knew the President would be there and 
other prominent members of his cabinet and men con- 
nected with the Confederate and Union services, I 
thought it would be very well worth seeing and hearing. 
I went to the afiFair in one of the "rubber neck cars," and 
was surprised to see so many women from the South, all 
wearing the "stars and bars" and all for the old Confed- 
erate secession feeling. It seemed like carrying one back 
to the war times when "copperheadism" was rampant 
and the preservation of the Union was in the scale and 
the rise and fall of it was uncertain. The President and 
his daughters were on the platform and a number of the 
oflficers connected with the Grand Army of the Republic 
and camps from all over the country. Speeches were 
made by both ex-Confederate and Union officers. They 
were all full of patriotic sentiment. There was no ques- 
tion but that the old issue had been forgotten and that 
there was but one flag, the true flag to be revered. That 

223 



Congress and Life in IV ashing ton 

day I had a very pleasant chat with the Secretary of 
State, William Jennings Bryan, while waiting for the 
opening of the exercises. It was an extremely warm 
day, in fact, one of the hottest of the season, and toward 
the close of the proceedings, about the time the Presi- 
dent was to be called upon to speak, a most terrific thun- 
der storm, with dust, rain and wind, came up, and every- 
body scattered as fast as they could. The President 
made an apology for not talking and hurried to his au- 
tomobile, and all of us ran as fast as we could to our 
conveyances so that we could avoid the fury of the 
storm, but we got most of it before we got half-way back 
to the city of Washington. However, I did not regret 
going to the affair, as the exercises were extremely inter- 
esting and all the speeches were well worth hearing; in 
fact, it surprised me that there was so much patriotism 
shown by those who had themselves or their fathers 
taken part in the war between the States. 

Among the speakers was a young man from Wash- 
ington, a fine looking, athletic fellow of about thirty or 
thirty-five years of age, Robert E. Lee, the grandson of 
the famous commander of the Confederate forces. That 
this young man should have so little rancor or ill feel- 
ing that he could make an address, which he did, teeming 
with strong and powerful patriotic bursts of eloquence, 
there on the very spot where his grandfather had lived 
at Arlington, which place had belonged to him and his 
ancestors and had been taken from him by the misfor- 
tune of war, was remarkable. I learned afterward that 
Mr. Lee was a lawyer in the city of Washington and 
took an active part in all philanthropic work, and par- 
ticularly with the initiation of the work ending with the 
erection of this Confederate monument. For a long 
time Arlington had been barred to the Confederate 
cause, and the United States Government would not per- 
mit the ground to be used for the erection of Confed- 
erate monuments, but finally the feeling between the sec- 
tions became so mollified by the passing of time that all 

224 



Congress and Life in Washington 

the old antipathy passed away and the last President 
who had taken part in the Civil War was the one who 
signed the bill to permit the Confederate officers to erect 
the monument, and a most beautiful work of art it is. 



225 



CHAPTER XV 

1894 AND THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNORSHIP CONTEST 

In 1894, the third year of my incumbency as presi- 
dent of the League of Republican Clubs of the State, I 
had a very wide acquaintance. I can say, I think, with- 
out contradiction that I knew personally more of the po- 
litical workers in the sixty-seven counties of the Com- 
monwealth at that time than any other politician of 
prominence in Pennsylvania, not excepting Colonel Quay 
himself. After my first nomination and election to Con- 
gress in 1890, the Fifty-second Congress, I had very 
little trouble in being renominated and elected in 1892 
and 1894. The president judge, Hon. Thomas J. Clay- 
ton, who opposed me in my first contest, took the very 
sensible ground that I ought not to be disturbed by any 
factional fight until the time allotted to our side of the 
Congressional district, six years or three terms of Con- 
gress, should have expired. With his powerful influence 
in my behalf, and with the strength I had gained by be- 
ing the leader of the county and in Congress, I was in a 
strongly intrenched position for a State fight. It was the 
year a Governor was to be elected, and I held my own 
county without any difficulty and also Chester County 
and the adjoining districts. I felt that for my services 
to the party and my standing in my own county and dis- 
trict I was entitled to a State office, and the high honor 
of being nominated for Lieutenant Governor was one 
of the ones I could reasonably aspire to without being 
inordinately ambitious. 

In 1890 General Daniel H. Hastings, who had gained 
a great deal of notoriety and fame by his Johnstown 
work at the time of the flood there, ran for Governor 
and was defeated by George W. Delamater. This latter 
nomination was not a popular one and Delamater was 
himself defeated in the November election by ex-Gov- 
ernor Robert Pattison. General Hastings held the po- 

227 



i8g>4 <^^d the Lieutenant Governorship Contest 

litical forces in hand from the 1890 contest and came up 
with a strong following for the nomination again in 
1894. My opponent in the contest for Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor was the Hon. Walter Lyon, a leading member of 
the Bar in Pittsburgh. He was not very widely known 
over the State except by the leaders of the Republican 
party. I fully expected in this contest to have the sup- 
port of Senator Quay. I did not have his opposition, as 
he remained neutral, and wrote me to the effect that he 
had made a promise to aid State Senator George Handy 
Smith, of Philadelphia, if there was any chance for his 
nomination. Senator Smith not entering the contest al- 
lowed Mr. Quay to be non-committal. His son, how- 
ever, Hon. Richard R. Quay, was a close friend to Wal- 
ter Lyon and used all his influence and also the influence 
of his father against me in this contest. I had every 
prominent leader in the State against me in this fight, 
and yet I elected nearly one hundred delegates, nearly 
enough to nominate me had there not been this interfer- 
ence of Mr. Richard R. Quay for Mr. Lyon. Of course, 
he had a perfect right to do this individually and politi- 
cally, but the dragging in of the powerful weight of 
Senator Quay's influence, which his son could wield, 
hurt me at the crucial time. I could have had the sup- 
port of the leaders of Allegheny County, Hon. Chris. 
Magee and others, but for the fact that Mr. Magee was a 
warm friend of the Hon. George F. Huff, of Westmore- 
land County, and the leader being a Congressman-at-large 
and wishing to be renominated, it was impossible for 
Magee to help his friend to this place unless he would 
"ride with the hares and hunt with the hounds." 

When the convention met there was a boisterous 
crowd of my adherents in Harrisburg, and from the 
outside noise and free demonstration one would think 
that my nomination was assured, but when the votes 
came there was not a sufficient number for me, and the 
Hon. Walter Lyon was selected as the nominee. My 
nomination for the office was presented to this conven- 

228 



i8q4 O'^d the Lieutenant Governorship Contest 

tion by my good friend Mr. William I. Schaffer, of 
Chester, of whom I have spoken several times, in a very 
brilliant speech which carried the voice and sentiment of 
the convention. The nomination was seconded in my 
behalf by another friend of mine whose acquaintance I 
had made in my League of Clubs work, Hon. Walter 
Merrick, of Tioga County. He had never made a pres- 
entation speech before in a State convention I believe, 
and his address in my behalf was a fine piece of elo- 
quence and aggressive sarcasm against the power of the 
organization that was being wielded for Mr. Lyon. His 
speech was a masterpiece and led to his being taken up by 
Senator Quay, as the latter had a faculty of doing these 
things, selecting men of ability who made their mark in 
conventions or other meetings in the State and tying 
them to him politically with hooks of steel. Mr. Mer- 
rick became the United States naval officer at the port of 
Philadelphia in the McKinley administration, and was 
reappointed under Presidents Roosevelt and Taft. 

Hon. Walter Lyon and myself are very great friends, 
and while I did not know him very well at the time he 
defeated me for Lieutenant Governor, our subsequent 
acquaintance has been very close and agreeable. I never 
go to Pittsburgh that I do not have the pleasure of call- 
ing upon him at his office or meeting him socially at the 
Duquesne Club. I had my lieutenant, Mr. Schaffer, 
make the nomination of Mr. Lyon unanimous, and 
wherever I could aid in effective work for Governor 
Hastings or the whole ticket I did so with all my vigor 
and force and with all the power and assistance of the 
Republican League of Clubs, which I had then brought 
up to its full efficiency. 



229 



CHAPTER XVI 

SENATOR quay's GREAT FIGHT FOR THE STATE CHAIR- 
MANSHIP IN 1895 

The administration of Daniel H, Hastings had hardly 
gotten warmly installed in Harrisburg when the head of 
it began plotting or marplotting for the United States 
Senatorship to succeed Senator Quay. In order to do 
this it was necessary for those who supported Hastings 
to gain possession of the organization and the State chair- 
manship. Under the rules, as I stated previously, the 
power to elect the State chairman lay in the State con- 
vention. Senator Quay was in the habit of spending his 
winters at his fishing bungalow at St. Lucie, Florida, 
and in 1895 did not get back until late in the spring; 
and in the meantime during his absence the emissaries of 
the Governor were at work all over the State building 
up an organization to defeat him. A great many of the 
politicians that Quay had made himself and had show- 
ered with favors deserted him and joined the Hastings 
combination. Nearly every politician of any prominence 
in the State was in the movement, and I do not believe 
that the Senator got wind of the true situation until he 
returned to Philadelphia. I had elected the delegates in 
Delaware County, seven of them, early that year, and 
had them well in hand. In Montgomery and Bucks 
Counties the old lieutenants of Mr. Quay deserted him. 
Fetterolf and Colonel B. F. Gilkeson joined hands with 
the opposition. Gilkeson was State chairman, and had 
been put in that position through the influence of Mr. 
Quay, just as he had been given other political positions 
through the favor of the Senator. 

Shortly after Quay's return to the North I received a 
telegram from him to come to Smith's Hotel, Brigantine 
Beach, near Atlantic City, where he used to make his 
headquarters when on his fishing trips there. I went 

231 



Senator Quay's Great Fight 

down the next day. Mr. Quay had been up all the night 
before and was not feeling very well. When I had an 
interview with him he opened up the situation by asking 
me if I knew what was going on in the State politically. 
I said I certainly did have a pretty good idea of it — that 
they were after his scalp and that I thought they had 
gotten it by this time. He rejoined that perhaps it would 
be possible to go into a contest and straighten the mat- 
ter out. "I do not think," he said, "that all of those fel- 
lows who have deserted will stand by the Hastings 
colors. At any rate, I am going to make a fight, and I 
would like to have you with me." Said I, "How about 
last year, colonel, and the lieutenant governorship?" 
"You ought to have had it," he replied. "I see my mis- 
take now. The Republican people and the party were 
for you, and personally I did not take any hand in that 
contest. Of course, I knew that my influence was being 
turned against you, but it was altogether against my 
wishes. Now, I suppose you want to go back to Con- 
gress next year, and I will do all I can for you in that 
matter, or if you want the lieutenant governorship next 
time, I will promise to have things lined up for you if I 
am in position to be of any service." I replied to the 
Senator by saying that I thought I was badly treated in 
1 894, but that I bore no animosity to him nor, in fact, to 
any of the leaders excepting Colonel Gilkeson, who after 
I had elected delegates to the State convention in my 
interest covertly sent for them and endeavored to seduce 
them by promises from my allegiance. "I understand 
that he has turned against you," I continued. "I do not 
want it to be stated that I took up arms against you be- 
cause I was defeated last year, as I despise that kind of 
politics that cannot suffer a reverse. I believe you are 
beaten in this fight already, Senator, but notwithstanding 
the fact of the strong combination against you, you have 
a powerful following in the State and can raise up new 
friends and possibly be successful yet. Whether you 
can or not I am going to be with you whether I go to 

232 



Senator Quay's Great Fight 

Congress next year or go into office in the future. 
Promises or not, you can have the seven delegates from 
Delaware County and can announce it any time or to 
anybody." He thanked me and appeared to be very 
grateful. 

In a few days Quay opened headquarters on Pine 
Street a few doors west of Broad, in Philadelphia, and 
the contention for the chairmanship began. I believe 
that this was the greatest battle that Colonel Quay ever 
made politically in Pennsylvania, at least in my experi- 
ence, unless it might have been the one in which he made 
Samuel Whittaker Pennypacker the nominee for Gov- 
ernor over John P. Elkin in 1902. Almost all the Sena- 
tor's friends in Montgomery and Bucks Counties had 
left him but one, and he was a new factor in the game, 
but a very able and discreet one — the late James B. Hol- 
land. He was one of the loveliest characters that I have 
ever known. Quiet, unobtrusive, with excellent judg- 
ment of men and knowledge of detail in politics, he had 
won out his fight for district attorney in Montgomery 
County against the organization and had control. With 
myself he backed up the fight for the chairmanship in 
behalf of Colonel Quay. We worked "cheek by jowl" 
for a number of weeks at the Pine Street headquarters, 
aided by the very efficient and influential service of the 
Senator's secretary, Frank Willing Leach, who conducted 
most of the work of the headquarters and the corre- 
spondence. It was a battle of giants. Holland won out 
the nine delegates in Montgomery County. By news- 
paper work with my friends I succeeded in turning the 
contest aggressively against the Hastings combination 
and particularly against Gilkeson, the State chairman. I 
was astonished in this campaign to ascertain how many 
close and intimate friends Mr. Quay had all over the 
State ; many of them men in moderate circumstances and 
humble place, who stood by him like a stone wall for 
some little favor that he had done them years before. 
He had letters and telegrams from a number of them 

233 



Senator Quay's Great Fight 

after the headquarters were opened, and outside of this 
he summoned to his ranks some of the most powerful, 
wealthy and influential manufacturers and business men 
of all parts of the Commonwealth. 

As the convention approached the contest became very 
acrimonious, not only through the newspapers, but in 
many other ways. When the convention was about to 
meet in Harrisburg crowds and partisans on both sides 
went up to the capital. Harrisburg was filled with all 
the politicians in the State of the Republican party and 
a great many Democrats besides, who were helping 
Colonel Quay on the other side on the "Q. T." A close 
poll showed that the delegates were about evenly divided. 
Possibly the majority was in favor of the Hastings com- 
bination. All the strong-arm men in the State, detec- 
tives without number and crooks of all description, were 
on the scene, just as birds of prey would come around 
expecting a great battle. Our side secured possession of 
the Opera House, where the convention was to be held 
the next day. It was a big coup in our favor. The doors 
were held by armed men and the mailed hand was around 
the building and everywhere else. The night before the 
convention the partisans of Senator Quay held a caucus 
in the Board of Trade room, elected a chairman and 
called the roll, and announced that he was a winner by a 
good safe majority. As soon as the caucus adjourned 
all the clubs and followers of the Senator swarmed the 
streets and marched about with bands playing and splut- 
tering fireworks, and shouts of the privates, subalterns 
and captains of politics declaring that Quay had won and 
that there was no doubt about the fruits of the victory. 
There was very little sleep for any of us that night, and 
runners were out all over the town coralling and guard- 
ing the delegates and others of whose loyalty we felt 
some doubt. 

The next morning I suddenly ascertained that one of 
my own delegates, to whom I had given a position in the 
Mint, had been corrupted by the other side and was 

234 



Senator Quay's Great Fight 

counted on to vote against Quay. I was almost 
astounded when I heard this, as I felt certain that my 
seven delegates were absolutely loyal ; but this shows the 
uncertainty of politics. However, I sent out from my 
room in the Lochiel Hotel, which had two doors in it, 
one on each side, Walter Welsh, of Chester, and an- 
other stanch friend of mine, both powerful men physi- 
cally, to bring the delegate to me. He was a very small 
man physically and absolutely insignificant in many ways 
except in his own voting precinct, where, by importuning 
men to support his candidates and his talk he gained 
considerable local influence, and through this his posi- 
tion. The men soon brought him to me. After every- 
body had gone out but myself and the delegate, I turned 
the keys in both doors and locked them. There was pen 
and ink on the table and some paper. I told him to sit 
down there and write out what I should dictate or take 
his chances of going out of the window, which was a 
third story one and wide open. He was white as a 
sheet. He acknowledged that he had been bought, but 
said that the other side was going to win and that he 
needed the money that they gave him ; that he was poor 
and had very little money even to go home with. I dic- 
tated a proxy for myself as delegate and he signed it, 
and I then called in witnesses and gave him enough 
money to get out of the town and told him friends of 
mine would see that he took the train, which he did. It 
was the first incident in my experience in politics in 
which any delegate that I had chosen or that had been 
elected in my interest had ever been disloyal. 

All the details of the convention were carefully ar- 
ranged the night before, and even daylight saw us at 
work. At the last moment I found that some of the 
friends of Senator Quay who had been stirred up by 
the factionists of my own county were endeavoring to 
secure the nomination or election of Judge Samuel H. 
Miller, of Mercer, to be the temporary chairman of the 
convention the next day. and my friends had previously 

235 



Senator Quay's Great Fight 

gone to the Senator in my interest for the position. Mr. 
Quay said, "Certainly I want Robinson for it. He has 
made this fight with Jim Holland, of Montgomery, for 
me with my other friends, and he is the logical candidate 
for the position." The attempt in the interest of Miller 
fell through, and it was arranged that I should be named 
the temporary chairman of the convention. 

The next day the Opera House was filled to its utmost 
capacity. All the leading politicians in the party of the 
State were there, and for a time it seemed as if there 
would be trouble, but our side were on the alert and 
watched every avenue of danger and every move made 
by the enemy. I was named for temporary chairman of 
the convention and made a short speech, in which I ad- 
vocated the utmost harmony and peace for the sake of 
the party. It was soon found that the effect of the 
caucus of the night before and the forcible demonstra- 
tion made by the large body of people who had gone to 
the capital in the interest of the election of Senator Quay 
had weakened the stamina of the opposition. On a roll 
call Quay was elected State chairman, with a few votes 
to spare. It was a "famous victory." 

Now that twenty years have elapsed, I may not be giv- 
ing away any of the secrets of politics to say that we 
really did not have the necessary number of delegates at 
the caucus the night before, but we had blufifed the other 
side, and that it was a game of bluff on our side all 
through that won out. In point of fact, in a close con- 
test in politics it is often a question of nerve and indi- 
viduality more than anything else that carries the day. 
Of course, "sinews of war" is a great help, and hundreds 
of thousands of dollars were spent in this memorable 
campaign, but it was the character and initiative of such 
men as Holland, Cooper, Lane, and a number of others 
who stood by Senator Quay in this contest that made 
him a winner. The Senator was very grateful to me and 
so expressed himself. After the convention he sent me 
a small photograph of himself, unasked, and wrote on 

236 



Senator Quay's Great Fight 

it "Your friend, M. S. Quay," which I have hanging on 
my library wall today. Had the opposition to him been 
successful, it was all arranged that Governor Hastings 
should have gone to the United States Senate in 1897, 
and the other officers to be chosen in the interval would 
be distributed among the men who were ordinarily Has- 
tings' adherents and the renegades from the side of 
Quay, some of whom came back regretting their tempo- 
rary aberration. 

Quay did not forget the aid I gave him in this contest, 
and my subsequent appointment, years afterward, as 
United States marshal was indirectly through his po- 
litical friendship and desire to repay me in some way for 
my efforts in his behalf in this year when he came so 
near going down to defeat. In fact, I do not think he 
ever came so near meeting his Waterloo as he did in 
this 1895 battle. He did not forget others who assisted 
him. James B. Holland, who, as I stated, was one of 
the ablest, most competent and active of his friends, was 
afterward made United States naval officer of Philadel- 
phia, United States district attorney, and United States 
district judge, in which latter position he remained until 
his health failed, and by an act of Congress he was re- 
tired, and died only a few months ago. It was singular 
that he lived as long as he did, for he was a very frail, 
delicate man, giving to all the appearance of a person in 
the last stages of consumption. It was wonderful, how- 
ever, the amount of labor that he could perform, and 
the acuteness of his intellect and his poise and acumen 
in sizing up various political units in a contest were re- 
markable. 



237 



CHAPTER XVII 

1896, PRESIDENTIAL YEAR, AND DEFEAT FOR CONGRESS 

As the year 1896 began to approach it was plainly 
evident that the Republican party was going to come 
back to power again. The Democrats had been in charge 
of the country for four years and had proved their in- 
capacity to manage it, and the Wilson tariff bill had so 
affected the industries of the country as to create the 
greatest depression that the United States had ever seen 
up to that time. There were more people idle and out of 
work, more houses vacant, more mills stopped and more 
manufacturers idle in the fall of 1896 than ever before. 
To give an illustration, there were about twelve hundred 
vacant houses in the city of Chester. Grover Cleveland, 
though an able, dignified and upright President in many 
ways, was unfitted as a party man to manage political 
affairs. He really got along better at Washington with 
the Republicans than he did with his own people within 
his own party ranks. I had occasion more than once to 
visit the President at the White House, and I always was 
treated with the greatest courtesy and given more time 
than I thought was due me from so busy a man and the 
executive of the nation ; in fact, more time in several af- 
fairs affecting my district than was given me by Presi- 
dent Harrison, Cleveland's predecessor, during the 
Media post office difficulty. 

I had three interviews with President Harrison about 
the matter, one by myself, which lasted only a minute or 
so, the President apparently being busy. On the occa- 
sion of the second interview, when I brought the delega- 
tion of a dozen or more very prominent men of my 
county down to Washington to intercede in behalf of 
my appointment of Mr. Henry C. Snowden, Sr., the 
President accorded me very little time. The third ex- 
perience I will relate. It was shortly before the death 
of Mrs. Harrison, whom it will be recalled was ill quite 

239 



i8g6, Presidential Year, and Defeat for Congress 

a while at the White House and died there. I had sent 
in my name with a messenger and waited some time in 
the anteroom for the President to appear. Finally he 
arrived and the following interview took place. Rather 
brusquely the President said to me, "What is it, Mr. 
Representative, the Media post office again? I have 
asked Mr. Wanamaker to make that appointment, and I 
think this ought to close the incident." "This is all very 
well, Mr. President," I replied. "I wish the incident 
closed as much as anybody. However, I am here to 
represent my people and not myself, and I have had three 
interviews with you on this topic, and on neither one of 
them, have you given me more than a few moments of 
your time. I know how busy you are, and I know the 
exigencies of the high station you occupy, but this mat- 
ter is of great importance to me and to my people, and 
I think I should be allowed to state fully the case, and 
then I will rest it and leave it with you." The President 
appeared chagrined, and it was evident that he saw that 
he had been in the wrong. He replied, "I am sorry. 
but Mrs. Harrison has been very ill, as you know, and I 
have been very much at her bedside. I will give you all 
the time you wish at this time if you care to state the 
case." I thanked him and put the case before him as 
fully as I could. I noticed at the time that Mr. Harrison 
seemed to have been shedding tears before he appeared 
in the room at the interview, and a few days after this 
Mrs. Harrison died. There was ample excuse in this, as 
I realized afterward. 

Cleveland was always very willing to see the repre- 
sentatives, and exceedingly amiable and pleasant to them 
on all occasions. I recall one incident, the time when I 
brought a delegation down with Mrs. Walton, of Ken- 
nett Square, Chester County, who was the postmistress 
there and whose commission was about to expire. It 
was cabinet day. and the rule was very strict that the 
President did not see any representative on this particu- 
lar day. I explained, however, that the delegation and 

240 



i8^6, Presidential Year, and Defeat for Congress 

Mrs. Walton had come down at some trouble and ex- 
pense, and it would occupy but a short time to see her. 
To my surprise, the President came out and very cor- 
dially met her and the delegation and heard her plea for 
reappointment. 

As is well known, the Republican Presidential conven- 
tion of 1896 was held in St. Louis, and the choice fell 
upon Governor William McKinley, of Ohio. The Dem- 
ocratic nominee was William Jennings Bryan, who has 
since cut such a wide figure in the affairs of the country. 
I knew Bryan very well, because he entered Congress at 
the same time I did and served two terms. He was very 
active there and always anxious to exploit himself. 
There was no question about his ability and power of 
speech and argument. The celebrated cross of gold 
metaphor which he used in the presentative speech 
which nominated him at Chicago for the Presidency for 
the Democratic party I had heard before in one of his 
addresses or speeches in the hall of the House. When 
Bryan was in Congress the silver question was the great 
issue and Bryan its great apostle. 

I had been to the National League of Republican 
Clubs convention at Cleveland, Ohio, prior to the na- 
tional convention, and at that time we had great diffi- 
culty in preventing a resolution prohibiting free silver 
from passing. It was only by the efforts of myself and 
one or two other Republicans that I succeeded in beating 
by one vote Senator Du Bois. of Idaho, for the chair- 
manship of the Committee on Resolutions. At that time 
it was not known exactly how Governor McKinley him- 
self stood on the silver question, but he was very dis- 
creet about his position, and after his nomination and 
the declaration of the St, Louis Convention in favor of 
hard money we did not hear anything except the echo 
of his early sentiment upon this financial topic. A great 
many of the prominent men on both sides of the country 
who took the strongest kind of cards for hard money in 
1896 afterward were uncertain how they stood for a 

241 



i8p6, Presidential Year, and Defeat for Congress 

while on the silver question, especially about the time 
when the country was purchasing silver bullion at the 
rate of five million dollars a month and more. This was 
stopped, as is well known, by President Cleveland calling 
a special session of Congress in August of 1893, which 
session repealed the silver purchasing act. It was called 
for this very purpose, and it was greatly to the credit of 
Grover Cleveland that he always set his face like ada- 
mant against anything like free silver or the fallacy of 
fiat money. 

The Presidential contest of 1896 was one of the most 
stirring ones that this country ever passed through, and 
the business portion of it trembled for awhile in the bal- 
ance, fearful that Bryan might possibly win. However, 
the tide set in at last for honest money in gold and the 
Nebraska Congressman went down to defeat. 

Most of the summer and fall of this year I spent in 
my own district engaged in the contest for re-election to 
Congress. There was an agreement, not in writing but 
understood between the politicians of the two counties, 
that a Congressional district which was composed of Del- 
aware and Chester should be allotted four terms to 
Chester County and three terms to Delaware. When 
this agreement was made, in the early sixties, the pop- 
lation of the two counties was widely different and Ches- 
ter had a population double or treble the population of 
our county, but after the war we increased in population 
at the rate of forty to forty-five per cent, and Chester 
County, which was more agricultural in its make-up, 
only gained at the rate of about six to seven per cent., 
so in 1896 our population was almost equal to that of it; 
at least it was growing so rapidly that it would attain 
the size of the sister county in a year or two. On the 
basis of this fact, and because I had many friends in the 
Chester County end of the district and felt that I could 
make a strong fight for re-election, I entered the arena. 
I had no difficulty at all in getting the unanimous nomi- 
nation in my own county, but in Chester County the 

242 



i8c)6, Presidential Year, and Defeat for Congress 

Hon. Thomas S. Butler was named by the convention 
there. 

The conferree system was in vogue at that time and al- 
ways during my Congressional career. I appointed three 
strong friends of mine as conferrees for our side of the 
district, and Mr. Butler had three equally stanch ad- 
herents for his. At the head of the conferrees on my 
side was the distinguished Chester shipmaster, the late 
John B. Roach, who always had supported me in my 
political battles, as did his father, the distinguished 
founder of the shipyard and the American navy of later 
days, John Roach. At the first meeting of the conferrees 
it was seen that there was a deadlock, our conferrees vot- 
ing for me and those from Chester County voting for 
Mr. Butler. This was kept up for a number of meetings 
until it was found impossible to agree or to find any 
break in the delegation from either of the counties. So 
there was nothing to do but to make the fight each upon 
his own individual record and resources. I was not very 
well that summer and fall, and was overwhelmed with 
work. My correspondence was tremendous, so much so 
that I could not reply to it nor fill the dates for speeches 
in the various places in the district where it was almost 
imperative I should have gone. I expected very strong 
support from a number of my independent friends in 
Chester County, who had always stood by me in previous 
contests, but Mr. Butler's home county lined up pretty 
solid for him, and he had the support and aggressive aid 
in my own county of all the elements of discord and op- 
position that were created during my leadership, by rea- 
son of the fact that all the local nominations and ap- 
pointments were blamed upon me, or, at least, I had to 
bear the brunt of these matters, and many persons whom 
I should have looked upon as stanch supporters and 
whom I had aided in many ways took up the cause for 
the Chester County candidate and I found a vigorous 
fight on against me. 

The industrial depression all over the country was re- 

243 



i8p6, Presidential Year, and Defeat for Congress 

fleeted in the city of Chester, and, as I before stated, the 
empty houses there and the loss of voters from Upland, 
South Chester and the city of Chester, by reason of their 
going South or having left work, was almost sufficient to 
have given me the election. There were several efforts 
made behind the scenes to compromise the contest by 
retiring Mr. Butler and allowing my return. Senator 
Quay used his influence for all it was worth in my be- 
half, and we had one or two meetings at the Fifth Ave- 
nue Hotel between the two candidates and their ad- 
herents and endeavored to settle amicably the contest. 
Mr. Butler seemed at one time willing to withdraw, but 
the stern and bitter denunciation of my political oppo- 
nents in Delaware County compelled him to remain. 
This locality rule arrangement, which prevailed for many 
years before the primary system, which is now very 
much in effect over the country, was the means of throw- 
ing out of politics many strong and influential men just 
when they were going to be familiar with matters in 
Washington and to be of some service to their constitu- 
ency, and when the time came for the other county in 
the district to get the nomination, no matter how great 
the service of the incumbent or how little known the 
personage who was aspiring to the place, the rule had to 
be carried out. It was a Draconian agreement that 
worked injury to the best interest of the public service, 
and it is well that it does not any longer prevail. Mr. 
Butler has remained so long in Washington and served 
so faithfully and well there that there is a strong argu- 
ment showing how fallacious the old system was. 

As the November election rolled around I found the 
opposition to me growing intense and my difficulty in 
reaching and covering all the points necessary so great 
that I saw my chances of going back very precarious. 
Another thing which helped the Chester County candi- 
date was the Presidential election. This always brings 
out a very large vote, and of course the local candidate 
receives more votes in proportion than the one from the 

244 



i8g6. Presidential Year, and Defeat for Congress 

other county. I was defeated by about seventeen hun- 
dred votes. The change of eight hundred or a thousand 
votes would have returned me to Washington. My re- 
turn there would have made me one of the most power- 
ful Congressmen on the floor of the House in point of 
service, as I would have been on my fourth term. I 
would have been made, very soon after the inauguration 
of Major McKinley, chairman of the Naval Committee, 
as the Hon. Charles A. Boutelle, of Maine, who was ap- 
pointed to that post by Mr. Speaker Reed, who was 
elected to that place at the beginning of the Fifty-fifth 
Congress, became affected with some mental disturb- 
ance which ultimately resulted in his loss of reason and 
death. The Spanish War, which occurred in 1898, 
would have thrown the responsibility upon me for a 
great portion of the naval work of that struggle, as 
millions of dollars would have to be appropriated by the 
committee. It was from all standpoints the most essen- 
tial of all the committees of the House during that war. 
Although I was very much disappointed, more greatly 
so, I may say, in not going back to Washington and con- 
tinuing my Congressional life there than at other de- 
feats, after I looked back upon the matter and became 
reconciled to the fortunes of war, I saw that it was for 
the best. I doubt whether I could have stood the physical 
strain put upon me in the next few years had I been suc- 
cessful in the election of 1896. Hon. Thomas S. Butler 
went into Congress at the same time that Major McKin- 
ley was inaugurated as President, and has served the 
district from that time until the present, the longest 
period any Congressman from the district has ever held 
the position. He has been a very useful and industrious 
member. He does not address the House at any length, 
nor take part in debates to any great extent, but his work 
upon the committees and his departmental attention to 
all details affect the very industrious and populous dis- 
trict he represents, and is to be commended and cannot 
be excelled by any other Congressman in Washington. 

245 



CHAPTER XVIII 
m'kinley inauguration and the assistant secretary 

OF THE navy contest 

The advent of Major McKinley to power March 4, 
1897, with a Republican Congress and a good working 
majority, brought the country to a position where it 
began to revive its drooping energy. My acquaintance 
with Mr. McKinley was very intimate. I had known 
him from 1887, in which year I had been sent by Senator 
Cooper, who was then chairman of the State Republican 
Committee of Pennsylvania, to Ohio to stump for the 
Republican ticket, and was allotted by the chairman of 
that State to speak in the eastern counties, among them 
Harrison, Stark, Columbiana and the adjoining ones 
composing the district which was represented at that time 
by Major McKinley. He was out at the time stumping 
himself, and I met him the last night before leaving Can- 
ton, when I addressed the Republican Club of that city, 
one of the largest clubs in the State of Ohio, and the 
next morning had quite a pleasant chat with Mr. Mc- 
Kinley for the first time. He had just come in from a 
speaking tour and was dusty and warm from travel, but 
was full of life and energy, clear of head and thought, 
and as the great apostle of protection he pressed that 
issue to the front. In our conversation he wanted to 
know from me how I thought the country felt upon the 
subject at that time. I told him that his district seemed 
to me to be strongly in favor of the idea, particularly the 
farmers and sheep raisers of Harrison County and the 
pottery men of East Liverpool, and indeed all of them. 
He was very greatly pleased and thanked me for my 
effort, and many times afterward at Washington and 
other places I had the pleasure of talking to him, and 
always found him a common, plain, democratic and 
affable gentleman, never offending any one, not even 

247 



McKinley Inauguration 

giving the color of offense to any one. He rose gradu- 
ally by steps that were natural to be one of the floor 
leaders of the House of Representatives, and he would 
have been Speaker of the Fifty-first Congress but for the 
fact that the majority was only two or three and it was 
feared by the Republican leaders that McKinley's kindly 
disposition and desire to please would lose at times the 
fruits of the Republican victory in the House, so the 
stronger and more aggressive and powerful influence of 
Hon. Thomas B. Reed, of Maine, won out at that time 
and not because the members did not want McKinley. 

Coincident with the inauguration of the Ohio Presi- 
dent he called an extra session of Congress, and immedi- 
ately the tariff bill was taken up and hearings were given 
all along the line to the various manufactures and other 
industries in the country. This had hardly been com- 
pleted and the bill ready to go to the President for sig- 
nature when the country began to boom and things to 
revive. It was so apparent that the wayfarer, though a 
mugwump or free trader, could see it. 

With the end of the Fifty-fourth Congress my public 
service as a Congressman from the Sixth District of 
Pennsylvania ended. Prior to that I had been looking 
around for some place to which I could be appointed by 
the President which would be suitable for me, as my 
family would have to remain in Washington for a year 
more or a little longer on account of the lease of our 
house on Rhode Island Avenue not expiring until that 
time. As I was a graduate of the Naval Academy and 
the second member of the Naval Committee, and familiar 
with all naval affairs, and as our associations in Wash- 
ington were almost wholly with naval people, I thought 
that the position of Assistant Secretary of the Navy 
would be a very agreeable one. It is a quasi cabinet po- 
sition and has always been occupied by some one more or 
less connected temporarily with naval affairs or with the 
social manners which ramify throughout the navy at the 
capital. 

248 



McKinley htauguration 

I had the support of the chairman of the Naval Com- 
mittee, Hon. Charles A. Boutelle, and all the other Re- 
publican members except one, an old gentleman named 
Hulick, a judge in Ohio at one time, whose term, like 
mine, had just expired, and who was a man upward of 
seventy years of age. I found out afterward that he 
was an applicant for the place himself, quietly, and re- 
lied upon his personal acquaintance with the President 
and the fact that they both came from the same State. 
I also had the support of all the heads of the Navy De- 
partment, the late Admiral George W. Melville, chief of 
the Bureau of Engineering; Surgeon General and Ad- 
miral Rufus Tryon,whom I had served with in China and 
Japan, and who was at the time head of the Medical De- 
partment ; General Heywood, who was a commanding offi- 
cer of the United States Marine Corps. Our United 
States Senators, the senior one, Hon. M. S. Quay, and 
Boies Penrose, who had just entered Congress with all his 
laurels fresh upon him, were friendly to me, but of 
course there were a host of applicants for places under 
the President in the hands of these Senators to which 
they had to give attention and from which they had to 
discriminate as to appointments. 

I had one man for me, since deceased, who perhaps 
was closer to the President than any man in the United 
States and had more to do with the success in 1896 than 
any other factor or person, and this was Senator Marcus 
A. Hanna, of Ohio. I had first met him at the League 
of Republican Clubs convention at Cleveland, Ohio, in 
1895, and found then that he was beginning to set up the 
machinery with great care and detail for the nomination 
of Mr. McKinley. Without any solicitation upon my 
part I received from him in my contest for re-election to 
Congress in 1896 a check for one thousand dollars. I do 
not know whether it was because of our friendship or 
because he had sent to all the Republican Congressmen 
who were running, or because the National Committee 
had a surplus of money in its exchequer, or a combina- 

249 



McKinley Inauguration 

tion of the three that induced him to do this, but at any 
rate it was done, and I did not return it. But in that 
contest and at that time money was of very Httle use in 
politics owing to the depression and the number of peo- 
ple out of employment. Senator Hanna was more than 
active in my behalf and said I should have the place, but 
there is "many a slip between the cup and the political 
lip," and I found out after I had entered the contest and 
had all the forces I thought necessary to win (my home 
senators and all the influence of Pennsylvania that was of 
any account whatsoever; Congressmen, manufacturers, 
many members of the Legislature, captains of industry, 
leaders in political afifairs. publicists, lawyers, etc.) that 
there was a candidate against me, a man who has since 
spread over the whole United States and out beyond the 
seas, and, indeed, to the four corners of the earth — 
Theodore Roosevelt, of Oyster Bay. I had no idea why 
he wanted a position of this kind. I knew that he was 
a learned man, a graduate of Harvard, a rustling, 
hustling young Westerner for a while, a police commis- 
sioner in New York City, a defeated candidate for mayor 
in that city, ex-member of the Legislature of New York, 
but I could not imagine what particular aptitude he 
might have for the headship of the navy or the assistant 
headship. He had been Civil Service Commissioner in 
Washington for some time during my service in Con- 
gress, and I had seen considerable of him, but did not 
know him personally very well, the first time that I met 
him being at a dinner to the Navy League in New York 
City. 

The efforts to have the President name me for the 
place went on for quite a while, and I used all the influ- 
ence I could summon, but after a month or more labor- 
ing at this work and feeling certain that I had exhausted 
all the efforts in this direction that I could bring to bear 
on the executive, I let it remain in abeyance. I was 
somewhat disappointed and astonished when some days 
afterward my friend, the chairman of the Naval Com- 

250 



Mc Kinky Inauguration 

mittee, Mr. Charles A. Boutelle, of Maine, came to my 
house and told me that the President was going to ap- 
point Theodore Roosevelt to the place. Senator Hanna 
also sent for me at the same time and told me he was very 
sorry, but that the President had made some sort of a 
promise to some one and that he had to appoint Roose- 
velt, and that there would be something else given to me. 
This was quite disappointing, but I did not find out the 
sequel to the story until quite a good while afterward. I 
do not think that Theodore Roosevelt had anybody for 
him but Speaker Reed and Senator Lodge among the 
leading politicians and public men in Washington. Of 
course, he had a wide acquaintance personally and other- 
wise, but I do not know of any influence being brought 
to bear upon the President for him of the kind that I had, 
and I did learn of the friendship for him of the Speaker 
of the House, Mr. Reed, and the Senator from Massachu- 
setts, Mr. Lodge. The latter and he were Harvard men 
and old chums and friends. 

It will be remembered by newspaper readers that not 
long ago there was some trouble, when Mr. Roosevelt 
was President of the United States, between him and the 
ambassador to Austria, Hon. Bellamy Storer, of Cin- 
cinnati, who was in Congress with me. It arose through 
the interference, or the alleged interference, of Mrs. 
Storer in diplomatic affairs at that post and finally re- 
sulted in the recall of the ambassador by the President. 
It gave rise to the celebrated "Dear Maria" correspond- 
ence. Mrs. Storer was one of the Longworths, of Cin- 
cinnati, a woman of great good sense and public spirit 
and one who took a prominent part in matters of general 
interest to the people. At the time Major McKinley ran 
for Governor he was not very well fixed financially, as 
the country knew, and was aided by many of his friends, 
as he had failed a short time before and lost all his money 
invested in manufacturing. At that time I understood 
that Mrs. Storer helped him out financially and also in 
the Presidential campaign of 1896. Prior to his going to 

251 



McKinley Inauguration 

Washington to be inaugurated, Mrs. Storer saw Major 
McKinley or communicated with him, I am not abso- 
lutely sure how it was, but am certain as to the facts that 
it was through her influence with the President, asking 
for and receiving a promise to appoint Theodore Roose- 
velt, a friend of hers, to the position of Assistant Secre- 
tary of the Navy. Here's where "Teddy" got the posi- 
tion ahead of me and where all my technical backing by 
the Naval Committee and the heads of the Navy Depart- 
ment and my knowledge of navy affairs, etc., was 
whistled down the wind. It was a clear case of where 
experience was of no account against the influence of a 
woman of commanding force of character and wide 
personality. 

I took my defeat very nonchalantly and learned that 
the President did not appoint Roosevelt without a pro- 
test. He was told by Senator Hanna and he knew of his 
own knowledge of the combative disposition of the Oys- 
ter Bay politician, and was afraid that he might begin 
scrapping in his cabinet ; and if there was any man in 
the world that was the very personification of peace and 
peaceful methods it was the late President McKinley. 
His character might be described as one long life of 
sweetness and light. The President told some one that 
he feared to appoint Roosevelt for this reason, but he 
was assured by Mrs. Storer and other friends of Roose- 
velt that this was exaggerated and the appointee would 
behave himself if he got into the position sought. At 
any rate, shortly after his name was sent by the Presi- 
dent to the Senate and confirmed, not without some 
traversing of it in the Naval Committee and the Senate 
for the same reasons given above. 

A few weeks afterward. Senator Hanna, at the re- 
quest of the President, tendered me the position of As- 
sistant Secretary of the Treasury, but as I found the po- 
sition was a very onerous one and required an intimate 
knowledge of finance, I declined it and bided my time 
for any reward I might expect from the Administration. 

252 



McKinlcy I nan gum Hon 

This is the history of the appointment of Roosevelt to 
the Assistant Secretaryship of the Navy. The Spanish 
War had nothing to do with it. He did not know the 
Spanish War was coming on at that time, nor did the 
President. He had nothing to do with preparing the 
navy for the Spanish War, nor getting the vessels in trim 
for it, nor buying ammunition or anything of that kind, 
nor had he anything to do with assigning Admiral Dewey 
to the command of the Chinese fleet, which was such a 
bright thing for the United States and which was claimed 
through the newspapers to have been the personal act of 
the Assistant Secretary himself. He did have consider- 
able to do with buying, at outrageously high prices for 
the Government, a number of transports for the Spanish 
War and detailing a number of officers who were pets of 
his or relatives of his friends to certain places. He had 
hardly gotten into the position until he got to scrapping 
with the Hon. John D. Long, of Massachusetts, who was 
the Secretary of the Navy, and I do not think they got 
along very well during the time Roosevelt was on his 
job, which lasted until the declaration of war with Spain, 
when, as is well known. Colonel Roosevelt resigned and 
raised the regiment of Rough Riders. The true inward- 
ness of the Assistant Secretaryship of the Navy contest 
is simply the history of appointment of a young man of 
ability to a public place through the influence of a prom- 
inent, wealthy, very bright and intelligent "skirt." 



253 




JOHN B. ROBINSON 
CONGRESSMAN FROM 1891 TO 1897 
U. S. MARSHAL FROM 1900 TO 1914 



CHAPTER XIX 

STATE SENATE FIGHTS AND STATE SENATORS 

Our county has been singularly fortunate in having 
had very able and intelligent representatives at Harris- 
burg in the State Senate, and this position makes the 
State Senator a natural political leader in the county. As 
far back as the time before the war and when the dis- 
trict was composed of more than one county, the first 
Senator of importance was the Hon. H. Jones Brooke, 
of Media. He was a man of distinction and property, 
and resided at Media, where he was interested in the de- 
velopment of that borough and town. He was a friend 
of General Cameron and was a very useful representa- 
tive at the State capital, securing for the senatorial dis- 
trict all that he was justly entitled to and attended to his 
duties and the wishes and wants of his constituents with 
great care and industry. He was succeeded by Senator 
Thomas V. Cooper, who rallied the younger men and 
the younger blood to him and succeeded in unhorsing 
Senator Brooke, notwithstanding the great power and 
influence the latter had through family relations in the 
county. Many of those of the younger generation are 
still living, but some few of the older ones and the older 
politicians of the county will recall the desperate contest 
between Cooper and Brooke for the Senatorship. 

Prior to this time the Republican party had no set 
rules to govern it, and Senator Cooper was the first to 
introduce a regular system of delegate voting and repre- 
sentative government such as I have described in former 
chapters. He made his contest partly on these grounds, 
claiming that it was customary for Brooke and his 
friends to meet at some place like the Black Horse Hotel 
or the Rose Tree or some other old and well-established 
inn and agree as to the distribution of the county and 
State offices, and even those higher. Of course, this was 
autocratic, and Cooper had a very good argument on his 

255 



State Senate Fights and State Senators 

side; besides, he was an aggressive fighter and always 
hopeful and full of resources. 

The convention contest for the nomination to succeed 
Brooke was very close, but Cooper carried off the honor 
and represented the district with great ability until he 
resigned to take the collectorship in 1889. It was then 
that I succeeded him as has been related. My resigna- 
tion and election to Congress made a vacancy, and in 
1892 there was another contest for this place, and a very 
spirited and bitter one. The same forces that had lined 
up against me were pretty much against the candidate 
that I and my friends had agreed to support, the late 
Colonel William C. Gray, of Chester. Colonel Gray was a 
man who stood well in the estimation of his friends and 
the citizens of Chester and the county, and had been in 
political and public life a good deal, at one time being a 
candidate for Congress. He was the candidate that our 
organization and my friends would support. Captain 
Jesse M. Baker, his opponent, was, as I have stated in 
other places, a man of very clever parts, full of political 
inventions, and never at a loss to make capital for him- 
self and his friends on the political project that he had 
in view. He had a great many of the strong and young 
workers for him, and Colonel Gray had the organiza- 
tion and the support of Judge Clayton and his friends in 
Chester. Major J. R. T. Coates, of Chester, a very 
estimable citizen of that place and a gallant soldier of the 
Civil War, one of the First Pennsylvania Reserves, was 
also a candidate. 

The contest was very close, and at the convention there 
was the greatest excitement, and the vote for chairman- 
ship of the convention for some time was in doubt. The 
chairmanship carried with it the power to appoint the 
Committee on Contested Seats, and as there were sev- 
eral seats in dispute it was important to secure this com- 
mittee. Hon. V. G. Robinson, brother-in-law of Captain 
Baker, was named on that side for the chairmanship, and 
he won out, some members of the convention voting for 

256 



State Senate Fights and State Senators 

him thinking they were voting for me. The outcome 
was that the contested seat committee was favorable to 
Captain Baker and he was nominated, with few dele- 
gates to spare, as close as one and a half, I think. Sen- 
ator Baker proved a very influential and effective official 
at Harrisburg and one of the leaders in the body to 
which he was elected. He was the author of the Baker 
ballot law, which some people thought was a very great 
reformatory measure, but about which there is a differ- 
ence of opinion. However, Senator Baker was foremost 
in all affairs to uplift the politics of the State and to de- 
fend the interest of the senatorial district, and repre- 
sented it in the very best manner and took care of his 
constituents. 

In 1896 it was suggested to me by my late friend and 
lieutenant. Captain Joseph H. Huddell, that young Wil- 
liam Cameron Sproul, a young man of fine address and 
bearing, who had just graduated from Swarthmore Col- 
lege and had married a daughter of John B. Roach, 
would be a good candidate to pit against Baker. After 
examining into the matter and sounding leaders of the 
organization and talking with prominent Republicans of 
Chester upon the subject, I found a very general senti- 
ment in favor of taking up Mr. Sproul as a candidate for 
the State Senatorship. He had bought or was about to 
buy an interest in the Chester Times, which gave him a 
political power which would aid him considerably in the 
contest, but it was found after his name was announced 
that Senator Baker was unwilling to enter the contest 
against him, so Sproul had really a walk-over. He has 
remained at Harrisburg ever since, and is now the oldest 
Senator, I think, in point of service in the body. The 
interests he represents outside of politics in the county 
are very large, and his attention to all the details of 
politics in the county and the wishes and desires of the 
district are carefully attended to by him, and he has 
made one of our best Senators. He is a man of consid- 
erable wealth and has a very beautiful country place at 



State Senate Fights and State Senators 

"Lapidea," in Nether Providence township, the old 
Miller place, part of the old Leiper homestead, which he 
has beautified and ornamented and made one of the 
prettiest suburban residences outside of Philadelphia. 
He has been mentioned for a number of high offices, par- 
ticularly the Governorship, and had he been willing to 
accept the nomination in the year 1914, he would un- 
questionably have been nominated and elected, but he 
was loath to give up his large commercial and industrial 
interests, which he would have had to do had he taken the 
governorship. Possibly there are higher honors in store 
for him, as he is a young man and has not by any means 
attained the climax of his political record. 

Of the political leaders in Delaware County who were 
in the saddle during my residence there, which covers 
half of my life time, there were two that held local offices 
who were very able men in their way, although entirely 
different in the manner in which they did their political 
work. The gentlemen I refer to are Captain Isaac John- 
son, the president judge of the county at the present time, 
who succeeded the Hon. Thomas J. Clayton, since de- 
ceased, and the late William L. Mathues, who was a 
clerk in the prothonotary's office and afterward pro- 
thonotary for a number of terms. Captain Johnson 
when I first moved to Delaware County was also pro- 
thonotary. He was the real political leader, and on Sun- 
day evenings Senator Cooper and he would map out the 
program for the political work of the next week or en- 
suing period. His manner was always pleasing and 
suave, and he was always willing to do a favor for any 
one around the court house or in his office, especially for 
the young lawyers coming on, and in this way he ad- 
vanced his interests greatly. They used to say when he 
first came into the county that he was the political brains 
and the plans were made by him. and that Cooper exe- 
cuted them; that the latter could not have gone to the 
Senate at any time had Captain Johnson wished to assert 
himself for this position, but he preferred to have the 

258 



State Senate Fights and State Senators 

more quiet and lucrative office of prothonotary. I think 
he served there for four or five terms with the satisfac- 
tion of the whole Bar and community. In point of fact, 
any one having business around the court house was 
exceedingly desirous that he should have remained in 
the position. 

We come to a different character when we speak of 
the late William L. Mathues. The first time I met him 
he was not of age, but was doing active political work, 
really carrying the township of Bethel for the ticket he 
favored at those primaries. He was a good mixer and 
had a natural bent for politics. It was something that 
the whole family had a taste for. His father and his 
uncle Charles both served as sheriffs of the county, and 
one of his cousins is now deputy sheriff. He was pro- 
thonotary himself for many years. His manner was just 
the opposite of Captain Johnson's, being brusque and 
straightforward. He generally ascertained how a man 
stood when he talked to him on any political subject. I 
never knew him to fail in this direction. He would gear 
up a team at any hour of the night and would ride ten or 
fifteen miles to see a political worker, and when he came 
back he would know how the fellow stood — whether he 
was for or against the ticket. There was no prevarica- 
tion or evasion about it, and he had the utmost contempt 
for any one who was not bred and built upon the same 
lines as himself, and these were stalwart of stalwarts. 

When I was defeated in 1896 for Congress naturally 
my prestige was diminished, but I did not care, as it 
would not have been easy for me to have continued as 
leader of the county. So the reins which Mathues had 
always more or less held in his hands while I was per- 
forming the duties of political leader he then assumed 
altogether. We got along very well together excepting 
for one political scrap in 1898 and another one in 1908. 
The one in 1898 was due to some trouble over the con- 
ferrees appointed for Congressmen in the district, and the 
case went to the Dauphin County Court under the laws 

259 



State Senate Fights and State Senators 

of the State, and was decided by Judge McPherson, the 
presiding judge there, in favor of our side, Mathues 
losing his contention. Again in 1908 he was dissatisfied 
when Mr. Albert Button MacDade, who was district at- 
torney and had been placed in that position through the 
influence and aid of Mr. Mathues, did not altogether 
coincide with the leader in all matters of political import 
in the county, and there were some differences of opinion 
over the question of pool rooms down on the river front, 
against which Mr. MacDade, as district attorney, had set 
his face and used all the influence of his position. Mr. 
Mathues was opposed to them at the begimiing, but after- 
ward changed his mind and began to importune the dis- 
trict attorney to do the same, but Mr. MacDade would 
not be moved to change his position, which was the right 
one and entirely in accord with the sentiment of the bet- 
ter class of people in Chester and on the river front. 
This incensed Mathues, for one thing he could not do. 
and that was brook the position of any one whom he had 
been instrumental in putting into office or doing a favor 
for if their stand was against his. 

This was one of the most interesting and exciting cam- 
paigns that occurred during the Mathues leadership, al- 
though it was only six weeks long. MacDade was a 
young lawyer, good speaker, and had organized his own 
campaign pretty well in Chester and the county, believ- 
ing that Mathues would oppose him. I took up the 
battle for him and Mr. J. Rohrman Robinson, who was 
the assistant district attorney of Mr. MacDade. We 
stumped the county every night for about six weeks. 
The result was that the people began to thoroughly un- 
derstand the situation and to see that MacDade was go- 
ing to be done a great injury if defeated for the nomina- 
tion, as every district attorney before him had been given 
two terms and he was clearly entitled to it, and there was 
no reason why he should not have gotten it excepting a 
personal matter between him and Mathues. 

In the same campaign Charles Wolfe won out for 

260 



State Senate Fights and State Senators 

sheriff against the candidate of the organization, and so 
did Mr. George W. Allen for county commissioner. Mr. 
Wolfe did not live long enough to enjoy the fruits of his 
victory, as he died suddenly of pneumonia before the 
end of the year when he would have taken the office of 
sheriff. 

Mr. Mathues during his leadership secured quite a 
number of places for his workers at Harrisburg and 
other points, and he was always very earnest and in- 
dustrious in looking up holes in which to put political 
pegs. He finally looked out for one for himself, the 
office of State Treasurer. He consulted me about it and 
I advised him not to take the position, because it would 
remove him from Delaware County and to a large ex- 
tent weaken his hold on the leadership. However, he 
found that the State organization would keep their prom- 
ise which they made to him of increasing the salary of 
the office to seven or eight thousand dollars and make it 
more desirable. His death occurred shortly after the 
expiration of his term in the State Treasurer's office and 
was rather sudden, as nobody thought he was so seri- 
ously ill. He was a comparatively young man, but had 
a great deal on his mind and probably was overworked 
mentally, as he often complained to me of severe pains in 
his head, especially in the back of it. He told me once 
that he felt as if there was a soda fountain there and 
the thing was bubbling up all the time. His son Frank is 
now residing in the county and is taking quite an in- 
terest in public affairs and inherits some of his father's 
taste and aptitude in politics. One of his sons, Samuel, 
is in the register of wills' office as marriage license clerk. 

Mr. Mathues had little or no capacity for approaching 
men high up in public life, but for the average person he 
was an adept at securing his service. Although he had 
studied law in the office of the Hon. John M. Broomall, 
he never practiced to any great extent, entering into a 
partnership after he left the prothonotary's office with 
Mr. H. J. Makiver. Nor did he have any more than the 

261 



State Senate Fights and State Senators 

ordinary country school education. Nearly all the time 
that I was leader of the county I permitted him, being 
in Washington a good deal, to direct the local affairs. 
Sometimes he would embroil me in a contest which I did 
not court or desire, as he was very abrupt at times and 
spoke his mind with considerable plainness and direct- 
ness. He was the very soul of generosity and would give 
away almost anything he had to a friend, and was kind 
and good to his family, and in every way a desirable citi- 
zen, and of him we can repeat the old Latin maxim, "Of 
the dead say nothing but good." 



262 



CHAPTER XX 

PRESIDENTS I HAVE MET 

The first time I saw Abraham Lincoln was in Febru- 
ary, 1861, when he was on his way from Illinois to Wash- 
ington to assume the reins of government. He got off at 
the depot in Allegheny City, now north side of Pitts- 
burgh, and was received there by a committee of the 
leading citizens. I can recall his personality and address. 
He was particularly tall, very tall, with a high silk hat 
on, one that seemed to be of the vintage of twenty years 
previous, and the frock coat rather dusty with travel. 
He looked the very personification of a Western plains- 
man or farmer. However, you could see in his eye at a 
comprehensive glance that he was observant and knew 
what was going on about him. He remained over night 
in the city of Pittsburgh, and was serenaded at the Mo- 
nongahela Hotel, where he stopped, and a committee re- 
quested him to make a speech. To show the innate 
honesty of the man, his utter lack of guile or pretense, 
he asked them what to talk about, and the committee 
said, as Pittsburgh was a manufacturing place, it would 
be well to say something about the tariff. He said, 
"Gentlemen, that is a subject of which I know very little, 
and have read little or nothing about it." Which, no 
doubt, was absolutely true, but a more adroit and politic 
statesman would not have admitted that he was ignorant 
of the great manufacturing question of the day and 
would have probably made a speech, evolving it from his 
inner consciousness rather than have the citizens go 
away with the idea that he was ignorant about the sub- 
ject matter. Lincoln, however, was above deceit of mind, 
and his conscience was like a white sheet of paper. 

The next time I saw him was in Washington, in Sep- 
tember, shortly after the battle of Antietam, when my 
grandfather took me there to secure the release of my 
elder brother, who was in the Sixty-first Pennsylvania 

263 



Presidents I Have Met 

Volunteers and had been taken prisoner at the battle of 
Fair Oaks in the seven days' fight. For some time after 
the battle we did not hear of him and we thought he was 
dead, as his name was published in the list of killed. At 
least we mourned him as dead, but some time afterward, 
through another soldier, a letter was received stating 
that he was in prison at Salisbury, North Carolina. He 
was afterward transferred from there to Libby Prison, 
at Richmond, and from Libby taken to Fortress Monroe, 
where exchanges were usually made, and from there the 
prisoners were transferred to Annapolis and redistributed 
to their homes or regiments. In this case he came to 
Washington, and I was given funds to get him cleaned 
up and buy clothes for him from the skin out, which was 
absolutely necessary, owing to the circumstances of his 
close confinement in prison. Among other things, he 
told me the shoes he had on were a pair that he had taken 
from a man who died in Libby Prison, as they were 
much better than his own. This was a case of wearing 
dead men's shoes to some advantage. 

Washington at this time was full of wounded soldiers 
disabled in the battle of Antietam, and all along Penn- 
sylvania Avenue nearly every other place was an under- 
taker's shop, where bodies were being embalmed to be 
sent home. During this visit my grandfather took me 
to the office of the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, 
who married a Miss Hutchison, of Pittsburgh, and who 
was a close friend of his, and they went to the White 
House to see the President, and I accompanied them. 
He seemed to have changed considerably from the time 
when I saw him nearly two years previously. A few 
years of the anxiety and trouble of the Civil War, bur- 
dened as he was with all the care of the struggle and 
the armies in the field, had left its mark; no man carried 
so great a weight. Even a young boy like myself could 
observe the careworn, far-away look in the President's 
eyes. However, he seemed to joke and chat with the 
visitors quite freely, and while I did not pay much at- 

264 



Presidents I Have Met 

tention to what was going on or to what the conversa- 
tion was about, I recall that it had something to do 
with the Emancipation Proclamation and its effect upon 
the people. This paper had either just been issued or 
was about to be issued. The President said that he 
had made some sort of an inward vow to himself that if 
Lee should be driven from Maryland and across the 
Potomac in 1862 by McClellan, of the Union Army, he 
would issue the proclamation freeing the slaves in the 
South. This was done and pleased most of the radicals, 
as by this time there were more of them in the country 
than there had been at the beginning of the war. My 
grandfather was a stalwart radical and swore by the 
New York Tribune, which was always on the breakfast 
table after prayers in the morning. 

Andrew Johnson succeeded President Lincoln after 
the assassination. I saw him only once, which was when 
he was "swinging around the circle" on his attempt to 
bring the people of the country to his point of view po- 
litically. He had with him the admiral of the navy, 
Farragut, and the general of the army. Grant, and some 
other high official, and spoke at some length in Pitts- 
burgh. He was a short stocky man, or at least appeared 
to be such from the place where I saw him. His voice 
was vibrant and clear, without any of that peculiar 
Southern accent so noticeable in many of the "poor 
whites" or those allied to them like Johnson, who had 
sprung from the very common people, being unable to 
read or write until he had almost grown up. 

Grant succeeded Johnson and was President, as we 
all know, for eight years. Most of this period from the 
4th of March, 1869, until 1876 I was in the naval service 
and abroad. The Centennial year I was in Philadelphia 
and was at the opening service of that Exposition. The 
President was there and made a short address, and this 
was the first time I saw General Grant. I saw him again 
in 1879 or 1880, when he returned from his tour around 
the world and was received in Philadelphia. I was in 

265 



Presidents I Have Met 

charge of a delegation of the citizens from Media, with- 
out respect of party, to go in a parade in a procession to 
greet him. We were in the line for some time waiting, 
and I had a pretty good opportunity, as his carriage 
passed slowly, to see him. He had grown stout and 
florid and looked the picture of health. The next time I 
saw him he was in his coffin in the City Hall, New York 
City, at the time of his funeral there, which was a mili- 
tary one, the command being in the hands of General 
Winfield Scott Hancock, who was then in charge at Gov- 
ernor's Island. A party from Media with myself went 
over on that occasion. Colonel Edward C. Lyons, of the 
Black Horse Hotel, one of the party, had a brother or 
relative on the police force in New York City, and 
through his courtesy and good offices we were enabled to 
get into the line up near the head of it. It was a long 
one, extending from the City Hall a mile or more down 
across the park and down Broadway, and as it came 
under the rotunda of the City Hall it divided, two going 
on each side of the bier where the late general lay in 
state with guards of army and navy officers around him, 
then rejoined as they passed the coffin. 

I witnessed the military procession from the corner 
of Fifty-seventh Street and Broadway, and had a most 
eligible position, thanks to a patriotic Irishman who had 
come out to see the demonstration himself, bringing his 
dray and family. Our party hired the dray, family and 
all, and got its owner to back it close up to the curb, and 
under the shadow of an enormous flat we had a mag- 
nificent view of the parade as it came from Fifth Avenue 
down Fifty-seventh Street and wheeled at our corner 
into Broadway and thence to the Boulevard That night, 
through the courtesy of Captain Williams, of the police 
force, I was put into the enormous four-abreast line of 
persons desirous of viewing the remains of General Grant, 
near the head of it, and, waiting eight minutes, had the 
satisfaction of seeing the dead general. I noticed but the 
changes of long sickness, the emaciation and shrunken 

266 



Presidents I Have Met 

condition of the body. I should not think he could have 
weighed 100 pounds. The beard was much grayer than 
when I last saw the general. 

This did not strike me as the particularly great feature 
of the obsequies so much as the enormous crowd of peo- 
ple who lined the streets, swarmed on the tops of houses 
and hung from the highest balconies, windows and roofs 
of flats like the Osbourne, which towered sixteen stories 
high, to see the procession. The quiet, orderly and ab- 
sorbed attention of the multitude was marked and re- 
markable. When the catafalque appeared, after a very 
tedious wait and interval between it and the last of the 
New Jersey militia, a great solemn hush came over the 
mass of people swarming and elbowing each other like 
maggots on the curb. It was, indeed, a wonderful tribute 
of respect — the homage of thousands of uncrowned 
kings to him who but a few years before was but one of 
them himself, and among the humblest. 

At the Fifth Avenue Hotel the evening after the 
funeral I met many old friends of Grant among the St. 
Louis crowd who knew the "old man," as they called 
Grant, before the war, and in the days of his adversity. 
Indeed, up to his fortieth year Grant never knew any- 
thing but adversity. Judge Phil. Lanham and Judge 
Wright, both old neighbors and friends of Grant when 
he lived at "Hardscrabble," on the old Gravois Road, at- 
tended the funeral and were full of reminiscences of the 
dead man, in his genial St. Louis days — reminiscences 
which were full of evidences of the wonderful persist- 
ence, tenacity and pertinacity of purpose Grant possessed. 
Phil. Lanham, who was known all over the West as 
"Toothpick Lanham," because of his fashion of present- 
ing a friend with a toothpick whittled by himself out of 
Missouri hickory, lived on one side of Grant in the days 
when he was building "Hardscrabble," and Wright was 
his neighbor farther West. The latter assisted him to 
put up the house. It was a bleak, uncultivable part of 

267 



Presidents I Have Met 

Missouri and Grant got out of it all there was to be had, 
which was the timber. 

Judge Dent, the father-in-law of Grant, never particu- 
larly aided Grant. He opposed the union of the daugh- 
ter to him, and there never was much cordiality between 
them. The struggles of Grant in the times he lived at 
"Hardscrabble" and at St. Louis were very hard, and 
most of the time he had to face the pinchings of poverty 
with a growing family. Every effort to better his con- 
dition seemed to fail, and yet he did not lose heart, nor 
complain, and his old companions and those nearest to 
him in those days speak of his cheerful disposition amid 
all his misventures. In those days Grant was compelled 
to borrow money in small and large sums from friends. 
Many of these debts remained up until after he became 
lieutenant general and general, but were paid with in- 
terest then, and Grant never forgot one of his old ac- 
quaintances who had befriended him in his St. Louis 
days. The turning point in General Grant's career was 
after Donelson. A very great effort was then made to 
have him superseded. He was growing too fast for the 
politico-generals, and the jealousy that so often emascu- 
lated the energy of the Army of the Potomac began to 
show its green head on the Western frontier. Grant dis- 
armed it by absolutely possessing none of it himself. 
Seemingly careless himself where he did his duty, and 
equal to his duty, he was left alone more because it was 
presumed that one not jealous of his command or am- 
bitions would not succeed. But herein were the elements 
of success. Again the fact that Grant came from Illinois 
helped him. Lincoln was pressed to remove him, but 
State pride, of which "Old Abe" possessed as much as 
we all do, restrained him. He liked Grant because he 
hailed from Illinois and the halo of his early victories, 
which broke the long line of military inactivities and re- 
verses, threw some of the public credit on the State which 
had commissioned him. 

This is not to argue that Grant's rise was fortuitous. 

268 



Presidents I Have Met 

The discipline of his early life made Grant at forty, with 
his early military education, just the mature and rounded 
man demanded by the occasion. He could fight, and it 
made no difference whether he had drunk more or less 
whisky in his early career, or was a failure in a business 
sense. When the war broke out we needed fighters, and 
Grant could do this, as his early Mexican campaigning 
showed, where he won his junior brevet by conspicuous 
bravery at Chepultepec and the Molino del Rey, and that 
was the essential thing. His simplicity of character, 
doggedness of purpose, equipoise under victory and flat- 
tery, were all attributes making in the right direction for 
his fame. 

Asking one who was very near to Grant in New York 
if he ever possessed or showed any of the ordinary human 
vanities over his great successes, he said : "No. General 
Grant was the most singularly unselfish man I ever knew. 
I knew him to have but one single vanity or self-absorp- 
tion, if you could call it that, and it was this: the general 
imagined, or had an idea, in the last few years of his life, 
that he was a business man and had the financial tact or 
commercial aptitude to a great degree. Strange to say, it 
was the one thing he knew nothing about, and he was as 
clay in the hands of the potter before the Wall Street 
sharks, and it is a wonder Grant escaped as well as he 
did from worse than the Ward scandal. He was an hon- 
est man, entirely so, but about business he knew nothing. 
Still he thought so." 

I saw President Hayes several times in Philadelphia 
on his visits there to deliver addresses, but never on any 
other great occasion that was notable. 

I never recall seeing President James A. Garfield ex- 
cepting once with a group of Congressmen who came 
down to the Naval Academy on some visiting expedition 
or reviewing business. He had not become a national 
character at that time. 

Garfield's successor after his death, Chester Alan 
Arthur, I had seen quite a good deal in New York State 

269 



Presidents I Have Met 

during the time Harrison was a candidate and won his 
nomination and election in 1888. General Arthur was 
then secretary of the Republican City Committee, and 
used to be instrumental in securing finances to run the 
campaigns. It was through his ability to do this suc- 
cessfully that secured him a place upon the ticket when 
Garfield was nominated against the wishes of the Conk- 
ling, Cameron, Logan, Grant party. To placate the 
offended Senator from New York State, Roscoe Conk- 
ling, a committee went to him to request a name for a 
Vice-President, and after some little parleying Conkling 
suggested they put Arthur on if they put anybody, but 
without any idea that he would have any chance of being 
President. At the time that I saw Arthur in New York 
in 1888 he was noted as being the last man to leave the 
Fifth Avenue Hotel among the coterie of good fellows 
who occupied the cafe up to midnight and afterward. 
He was known for the tenacity with which he could 
hang on and his facility and ability to make a "Man- 
hattan cocktail." In point of fact, some of the people 
have said that he gave the name to this famous decoction. 

General Arthur was probably one of the most dignified 
Presidents we ever had. He was always very neat and 
fashionable in his attire and had a mannerism about him 
which gave him distinction at once to a stranger or to 
the person first meeting him. The accident of his get- 
ting the Presidency put him, of course, under a cloud, and 
there was a very strong feeling against him when he 
came up for renomination in 1884. The bitter Blaine 
men would not touch him under any consideration, and 
most of his support came from the Federal office holders. 
Had he been nominated it is more than likely that he 
could have won out, as his strength in New York City 
was greater than that of Cleveland and more than 
equalled that of Blaine. 

Of Grover Cleveland I saw very little during his first 
term, the first time being at some function in Philadel- 
phia in the Academy of Music, where he made a short 

270 



Presidents I Have Met 

address. I have stated in the previous chapter my rela- 
tions with him during the time I was in Congress and he 
was President, and how pleasant they were at all times 
and how cordially he always received Republicans, espe- 
cially the Representatives and Senators, much more so 
than those of his own party. Both Harrison and Cleve- 
land had the misfortune to break with their parties while 
in the White House. During Cleveland's second term 
he disagreed with the Democrats on the tariff question 
and the Wilson free trade bill. Many of the leaders of 
his party did not visit the White House at all. The same 
situation existed between President Harrison and the 
leaders of the Republican party. Senator Quay, who had 
done so much to elect Mr. Harrison, and without whose 
strenuous efforts in this direction he could not have made 
the election, disagreed with him over some question of 
patronage shortly after Harrison took charge of the 
Government. He was a strong President intellectually. 
His speeches, especially those he made on his Western 
trip to California, were splendid specimens of statesman- 
like work and deep philosophical knowledge of Govern- 
ment affairs. 

I attended the convention in 1892 at Minneapolis when 
he was renominated, our delegate from the county of 
Delaware being Mr. Enos Verlenden, of Darby. Our 
people were for the renomination of Mr. Harrison, al- 
though there was a very strong Blaine sentiment in the 
county and district. The convention was composed al- 
most wholly of Federal office holders. When we reached 
Chicago, on our way to the convention, we learned of the 
resignation of Mr. Blaine from the cabinet, he and the 
President having fallen out over some question of state. 
This immediately made Blaine a candidate for the Presi- 
dency and we all thought he would go through the con- 
vention like the Ten Commandments would go through a 
Sunday school and be nominated, but we found it differ- 
ent when we got to Minneapolis. The office holders 
stood like a stone wall for the President's renomination, 

271 



Presidents I Have Met 

and it was impossible to budge them. Mr. McKinley was 
the presiding officer of the convention, and there was an 
effort made to stampede the convention for him, but it 
was unsuccessful, as were the efforts that were also at- 
tempted to nominate Mr. Blaine. 

Among the active workers of the Republican party 
after the nomination there was a feeling of frigidity as 
to the candidates, Harrison and Reed, and it was seen 
that the Republicans would not work for success in the 
fall elections. The Democrats had made successful deals 
with the populace in the West and Cleveland had been 
renominated over the efforts of his own leaders to de- 
feat him, and without the assistance of his own State, 
New York, he swept the country and had the unique 
honor of going back to the Presidency, the only executive 
that ever returned to the White House after leaving it 
with a term intervening. 

Of Theodore Roosevelt, when he was President, I saw 
very little, not often being in Washington at that time. 
McKinley's assassination at Buffalo was one of the great- 
est shocks the country ever received, no one having any 
idea that he had an enemy, and I have always thought 
that it was carelessness upon the part of the secret serv- 
ice agents who had been detailed to guard him in their 
allowing any one to approach him to shake his hand with 
a handkerchief or any other thing covering their hand. 
Roosevelt, as it is remembered, was up in the Adiron- 
dacks at the time, and it was a little while before he re- 
ceived word of the shooting of McKinley. 

There happened to be a young officer of the army, a 
West Pointer and colonel of the engineers, Thomas W. 
Symons, of whom I spoke in the early chapters of this 
work, and who married one of my cousins, Miss Letitia 
Robinson, who was in charge of the forts on the lake at 
Buffalo. During the confusion ensuing at the Exposi- 
tion at Buffalo and the attempt on McKinley's life 
Symons took charge of matters of detail to preserve 
order and prevent any excitement. He was present when 

272 



Presidents I Have Met 

Colonel Roosevelt was sworn in as President, and was 
always very close to him. I have always thought that he 
ought to have been rewarded for this work by President 
Roosevelt with the appointment of the headship of the 
Engineer Corps when the vacancy occurred there during 
Roosevelt's administration. He was in every way fitted 
for it and would have made a splendid official, but the 
President saw fit to appoint another. Colonel Symons is 
living in Washington at the present time on the retired 
list and is serving on one of the commissions of the 
Pennsylvania Legislature for the formation of a canal 
between Ohio and the State of Pennsylvania, for which 
work he is eminently qualified by reason of his experi- 
ence and education. 

The convention that nominated Major McKinley for 
a second term was held in West Philadelphia and 
brought together a remarkably fine number of prominent 
Republicans from all over the United States. There was 
a contest over the Vice-Presidency, as the managers of 
the McKinley campaign, whose manager was the late 
Senator Hanna, of Ohio, had in view the nomination of 
a Western man, I think the late Senator Dolliver, of 
Iowa, but an adroit movement was started by Senators 
Quay and Piatt, of New York, to bring Theodore Roose- 
velt forward for this office in order to get him out of 
the governorship of the State of New York. He was 
very much averse to accepting the honor of the Vice- 
Presidency, and felt, like many persons do. that it was a 
means of shelving him from all active and influential po- 
litical work. In the end, however, it proved to be his 
making through the unfortunate circumstances that 
shortly afterward removed the head of the McKinley ad- 
ministration. Roosevelt only agreed to accept the Vice- 
Presidency nomination at the last moment when he found 
there was a unanimity of sentiment in favor of his being 
named by the whole convention. He was exceedingly 
popular at that time, and could have secured almost any 
office in the gift of the Republican party. He was hold- 

273 



Presidents I Have Met 

ing the governorship of New York and did excellent 
work there, but the Piatt organization were not alto- 
gether satisfied with some of his political actions, and for 
this reason engineered the movement, in combination 
with Quay, of Pennsylvania, to make him the nominee 
for Vice-President at Philadelphia in 1900. 

The Republican party has always been very fortunate 
when it has secured the National Convention to sit in 
Philadelphia. It is a great Republican city, protectionist 
to the very core, and has always received the party lead- 
ers and party speakers with great enthusiasm. I was a 
constant attendant at the 1900 convention, and it was in 
many ways a remarkable assembly. The late Senator 
Edgar A. Wolcott, of Colorado, was the temporary 
president, and the Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge, of Massa- 
chusetts, was the permanent president. Both gentlemen 
made very able speeches, and all the prospective speeches 
were of a high character and aroused the greatest ap- 
plause in the convention. 

No one looked forward to the horrible incident at 
Buffalo which removed McKinley from political life, and 
all the Republicans left the convention when it adjourned 
in high hopes and certain of a victory in the fall. This 
was accorded to the party, and McKinley was the last of 
the Presidents who served in the war of 1861-65 to hold 
the executive office. The incidents of the assassination 
of the President at Buffalo are too familiar to receive 
much comment in this book, and all that is necessary to 
say is that Roosevelt succeeded to the high office and in a 
true measure carried out the ideas and projects that his 
predecessor had in contemplation when he was removed 
by the assassin's bullet. 

There were several public acts of President Roosevelt's 
that gave him great notoriety while holding the Presi- 
dency. One of these was the settlement of the famous 
coal strike in Pennsylvania through the establishment 
of the commission headed by Judge Gray, of Dela- 
ware, and the arrangements he made for sending the 

274 



Presidents I Have Met 

fleet of "ironclads" around the world. This latter was 
one of the most powerful demonstrations that this coun- 
try has ever made of its naval strength, and the whole 
country to a man, I think, approved the action of the 
President in expending the money necessary to have the 
fleet make the voyage and circumnavigate the world. It 
carried the power and displayed the flag of the republic 
to the Orient, the far distant seas and islands of the 
ocean, where little had ever been known of it or seen of 
it, and gave many of the natives of these countries a new 
and interesting view of the military power of the United 
States. The command of this fleet was held by the late 
Robley D. Evans, more familiary known as "Fighting 
Bob." He continued in command until the squadron 
reached San Francisco, when illness caused him to give 
over his flag to a junior officer. 

The administration of President Roosevelt was so suc- 
cessful and popular that it foreshadowed his renomina- 
tion, and this was brought about at Chicago in 1904 
without any great contention or opposition. He made a 
magnificent run, and his opponent, the Hon. Alton B. 
Parker, of New York, the Democratic candidate for the 
Presidency, was a very badly beaten man. During this 
administration Roosevelt struck out for himself, as he 
had received the commission directly from the people, 
and he felt that he could act more individually than he 
had done when he received the succession to the McKin- 
ley regime. 

We come now to the campaign of 1908. President 
Roosevelt's association with public men in Washington 
had led him to believe that the Hon. William Howard 
Taft, of Ohio, would be an admirable candidate for the 
succession to himself. The ambition of Mr. Taft was to 
go on the Supreme Bench, but the President induced him 
to forego this and become a candidate for the higher 
office. Roosevelt used to say, when he left Washington 
on his various tours around the country, "I do not feel 
at all afraid of leaving the capital, as 'Big Bill Taft' is 

275 



Presidents I Have Met 

there sitting on the lid and everything will go right." He 
felt sure that through the powerful strength of the or- 
ganization in 1908 there would be little difficulty in se- 
curing the nomination of Mr. Taft as the Republican 
candidate. He proved to be a strong selection from an 
intellectual standpoint and his speeches were always well 
timed and able, but he lacked a certain power of mixing 
with the people and a certain personality that would 
draw the public to him. His administration proved to be 
a successful one for the country and I saw quite a good 
deal of him both at Washington and Philadelphia, as he 
frequently visited the latter place to make addresses and 
appear before the various political and other social clubs. 
What was the true inwardness of the difference between 
President Roosevelt and President Taft has never been 
written, and I cannot say that I know what it is myself, 
but it seems very singular that Roosevelt should have 
been so anxious to place Taft in the high office which he 
held and to assure the country of his knowledge of him 
that he was an all-round well-fitted man for the place ; 
then that he should have, in less than four months, lost 
his confidence and become estranged politically. 

It is hardly necessary to review the circumstances of 
the stormy convention of 1912. It was one of those 
political assemblies that occur where the bottom forces 
become rampant without the public knowing exactly why 
or wherefore. President Taft received the renomina- 
tion in the same way that he had been nominated four 
years before. President Roosevelt was only questioning 
his own ways and manner of nominating him when he 
made his candidacy and tried to force Taft off the ticket, 
all of which seemed to the public quite incomprehensible. 
The politicians, of course, could see the workings of 
human ambition back of the scenes. Roosevelt's won- 
derful personality and powerful mentality made him a 
strong man any time to the country, and he had behind 
him at Chicago at this time a most potential body of 
able and aggressive Republican workers and leaders. He 

276 



Presidents I Have Met 

made a most remarkable run, although there is no doubt 
hundreds of thousands of people voted for him thinking 
he might stand a chance of being elected. The result of 
the election showed that no division of this kind or no 
personal ambition of the character such as caused the 
campaign of this year could be successful, and that only 
two great parties can ever stand opposed to each other in 
this country for any length of time. The members of 
the party known as the "Progressive" or "Bull Moose" 
party have fallen almost wholly away from its distinctive 
leader, and the men, active and powerful, who were back 
of Roosevelt in 1912 at Chicago are all lined up now for 
the Republican candidates of 1916. That year is rapidly 
approaching. 

President Wilson, like President Lincoln, was a mi- 
nority President. His ability as a scholar and diplomat 
of national and international law is not to be questioned, 
yet many of his political acts were novel and can hardly 
be said to have met with the approval of his countrymen, 
certainly not with the approval of the members of the 
party which opposed him. The Mexican situation and the 
great war in Europe are all working for the nation's 
financial benefit, but it cannot be said with any truth or 
fairness by an observer of history that the political acts 
of the Democratic party under the Wilson administra- 
tion have added any degree of steadiness or betterment 
to the commercial and industrial power of the country. 
The most striking turn of the wheel in President Wil- 
son's career (which has been one long history of devo- 
tion and service to reform and civil service) was that he 
permitted his cabinet officers, shortly after he had be- 
come installed in the White House, to make a sweeping 
removal of Federal officials all over the country. There 
has never been any such flagrant and direct violation of 
the civil service since it was established than has occurred 
under the Wilson administration, and not since the Jack- 
son administration, when William L. Marcy, of New 
York, established the doctrine that "To the victors be- 

277 



Presidents I Have Met 

long the spoils." There has been no political party that 
has ever taken such a stand in favor of throwing out 
forcibly, vi et armis, any official whose place was desired 
for some hungry and disconsolate follower of the Demo- 
cratic standard. How President Wilson is going to 
justify himself when it comes to the question on the 
stump, as he will probably be up against the proposition 
sooner or later if he is renominated, the country will be 
anxious to find out. He will justify himself, however, 
and his close and stanch friends will justify him also, 
and they will appeal to his diplomatic acts and his Mex- 
ican policy and his treatment of the foreign matters con- 
nected with the European war, and claim that he has been 
a perfect giant of intellectual strength and political force, 
and that the country never was in better condition than 
while in his hands. Certainly the condition of the treas- 
ury at the end of the Taft administration and as it stands 
now is not in any way favorable to President Wilson's 
conduct of affairs. 



278 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE CITY OF WASHINGTON AND WASHINGTON LIFE 

My term in Congress expired March 4, 1897, coinci- 
dent with the advent of the McKinley administration. I 
was unfortunate enough in one way to be in Washington 
in Congress two terms under Democratic rule. While it 
gave me less official work to do, as I had no relations 
concerning patronage with the administration, so far as 
my influence was concerned I might just as well have 
remained at my desk in Media. The lease of my house 
not expiring with my term in Congress, I was compelled 
to remain in the city until 1899. It was fortunate in one 
way, as I was close to headquarters in the Spanish War 
and heard and saw a great deal of the inner workings of 
that peculiar struggle, which threw into our control all 
the possessions of the crown of Spain in this hemisphere 
and the Philippines and Guam in the Orient. It also 
enabled us to have the benefit of the fine large house in 
which we lived on Rhode Island Avenue in 1898 for the 
marriage of my eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who wedded 
A. Welling Wyckoff, of Elmira. He was a young man, 
the eldest of four brothers, all of whom were educated at 
Cornell College and were prominent and popular in their 
classes, especially in the athletic field. Both Welling and 
his brother Clinton took a leading part in football games 
and were standard authority on this subject. The father 
of these boys died when they were young, and their 
mother, a very excellent woman of strong character, had 
them educated, and they all turned out very well after 
they went into business life. 

I was able, owing to my relations with the Naval Com- 
mittee of the House and through the service of the late 
Hon. Charles A. Boutelle, of Maine, to secure a place in 
the Bethlehem Steel and Iron Company for Mr. Wyckoff. 
He started at the bottom, but had not been there long 
until he made his mark. On my return to Washington, 

279 



The City of Washington and Washington Life 

and I should say after I had left it in 1899, I was sur- 
prised to notice the wonderful change in the capital city. 
It will become in time, and is now, one of the most 
beautiful cities in the world. A large number of public 
squares and fine monuments have been erected by the 
Government, and public buildings for the various depart- 
ments, all of which are erected on an artistic plan, with 
a system, making all of these buildings and public insti- 
tutions have a symmetrical appearance. The White 
House was renovated, improved, and additions added to 
it, giving more office room and better accommodations 
for the family of the President in the main building. 

I have stated that our relations socially with President 
Cleveland and his popular wife were very pleasant, and 
we were a number of times entertained at the White 
House, particularly at the receptions in the winter, when 
the various delegations of Congress, the army and navy, 
and the judiciary are entertained there, and all the official 
part of Washington turns out to attend. There was no 
prettier sight than at the opening of one of these recep- 
tions to see President and Mrs. Cleveland come down the 
main stairway of the White House, she on his arm — a 
most beautiful lady she was — with their social attend- 
ants. They were the cynosure of all eyes, and took their 
station afterward behind what was known as the rail, 
where the invited guests were not admitted except by 
special card. The President and his wife stood at the 
side of this rail, and as the persons came forward they 
were introduced by the marshal of the district, each name 
being called out loudly so all could hear who the parties 
were, and frequently there were prominent and dis- 
tinguished personages from all over the United States. 
It was quite a social privilege to get an invitation to 
stand behind the President and his wife at this railing, 
as one could then observe all the fashion and beauty of 
Washington as it passed in review before the executive 
of the country. The cabinet officers and their ladies were 

280 



The City of Washington and Washington Life 

privileged characters, and at the front of this rail stand 
behind the President. 

During the Presidential term of President Cleveland, 
especially his second term in Washington, there was a 
wonderful growth and extension of properties in the 
outskirts of the district. The President himself pur- 
chased a beautiful country seat — "Red Rock" — some dis- 
tance out from the White House, and of course the prop- 
erty in this vicinity rose in value very greatly, and other 
prominent people bought property and built or remodeled 
old houses in that locality. 

The only part of the district that did not seem to 
progress with the spirit of the times was the adjoining 
city of Georgetown, a very old and very historic place in 
its houses and environment. It is noted for its very ex- 
cellent Catholic schools for boys, girls, young men and 
women, many of whom have risen to eminence. The 
curriculum was a very rigid and efficient one, and the 
teachers women of the Catholic faith, sisters, many of 
whom had not been outside of the institution for years. 
My daughter, Mrs. Wyckoff, was educated at the George- 
town school for young women, and I can speak by the 
card for the very excellent character of the work that 
they did for her and those young women of her acquaint- 
ance who were schoolmates at the same time. Many of 
the daughters of the most prominent men went to school 
there. Some of the most distinguished scholars and 
priests have come out of the Georgetown institution for 
young men, and it has a repute equally as old and well 
established as the one for the young women. The head 
of the latter institution, when my daughter was going 
to school there, told me she had not been outside of the 
place for thirty-eight years, and as she lived for some 
years after that, she must have spent the greater part 
of her life as an inmate behind the four walls of this 
old seminary, doing good work in laying out the course 
of instruction for the young ladies who were left to her 
care and tuition. 

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The City of Washington and Washington Life 

I recall the second time I went to Washington after 
my renomination, in visiting my daughter at this place, 
the Mother Superior had quite a pleasant chat with me 
and congratulated me on my return to Congress. I said 
to her, "How is it that you are so well posted in matters 
that take place in the outer world when you don't get 
outside of the four walls of the institution?" "Oh!" she 
said, "a little bird brings us our news and we hear a 
good deal through various sources and try to keep track 
of the public men who have daughters here under our 
care and instruction." 

One of the interesting sights near Washington is the 
Arlington Cemetery, which I mentioned in my visit to 
the dedication of the Confederate monument, which is 
now approached by a handsome road and bridge leading 
up past the noted Fort Myers, where the cavalry and offi- 
cers of the army and aviation corps are nurtured and 
drilled. This approach to Fort Myers and the cemetery 
is the successor of the noted long bridge known in war 
times as the one over which hundreds of thousands of 
young men of the loyal North, coming from the hills and 
valleys of nearly every State of the Union north of the 
Mason and Dixon line, tramped to join the forces in old 
Virginia that were engaged in the tremendous struggle 
which began with Bull Run and did not end until the 
bugles sang truce under the apple trees at Appomattox. 
Arlington Cemetery is a beautiful burying ground filled 
with the tombs of some of the most noted dead of the 
country. On the brow of the hill, in front of the old 
colonial mansion of General Lee, is the granite slab and 
grave marking the burial place of General Philip H. 
Sheridan. As you go through the gate to the old man- 
sion you pass by rows and rows of marble slabs, head- 
stones and footstones supplied by the Government, sim- 
ply marking the burial place of the unknown dead of the 
Union Army. Here rest many thousands of boys in blue 
who died that the Union might be saved and the institu- 
tions of this Government be perpetuated. It is one of 

282 



The City of Washington and Washington Life 

the most impressive sites in the surroundings of the 
cemetery. 

There is a very good view of the Potomac and its 
reaches as it stretches in a silvery streak eastward past 
the navy yard, Alexandria and Mt. Vernon on its course 
to the sea. Very few of the large vessels of the modern 
navy could get up the Potomac in safety to the present 
navy yard, but the old wooden walls which were sailed 
by the men with iron hearts of the old navy were fitted 
out, commissioned and remodeled at this navy yard. The 
ordnance and gunnery section of it supplied a great many 
of the munitions that helped to win the victories of the 
Civil War, and from the heights of Arlington one can 
see Mt. Vernon, the old home of the Washingtons, where 
rest the first President and his wife. 

The capital lies somewhat defenseless to the approach 
of a foreign fleet, and I am reminded of a story I think 
told of President Jackson, the old lion-hearted and iron- 
nerved leader of the Democracy of nearly a century ago. 
President Jackson, or "Old Hickory," as he was known, 
was in the habit of riding out in the suburbs of the city 
with his private secretary, who was a linguist and well 
versed in all foreign languages. Jackson had invited the 
French minister to enjoy the afternoon riding with him 
and his secretary, and while they were rambling around 
the environs of the capital they approached a point where 
a broad view could be had of the Potomac stretching 
away to the sea. The secretary and the minister were 
conversing in French. After some little time Jackson 
straightened himself up and said quietly to his clerk, 
"What is he jabbering about?" "Oh!" said the secre- 
tary, in a quiet tone, "he said how easy it would be for 
the wooden vessels of his country, the men of war of 
that day, to come up the Potomac from Hampton Roads 
and, anchoring off Washington, take the capital." The 
only reply "Old Hickory" made to this remark was a 
grunt out to the secretary, "Take hell !" 

Whatever may be laid to the credit or discredit of 

283 



The City of Washington and Washington Life 

President Jackson for his views as a leader of his politi- 
cal party, it cannot be denied that he had the warm- 
hearted and popular following of the Democrats of the 
country and that he was a patriot to the core. There 
was no question but that he would have hung Calhoun 
had he persisted in his nullification ideas after the Pres- 
ident called the turn upon him and sent word that South 
Carolina had gone far enough. 

No one attempts to detract from the patriotism of 
James Buchanan, the only President Pennsylvania had 
the honor to have seated in the White House, yet if there 
had been a Jackson in the White House in the closing 
days of 1860 and the opening days of 1861, instead of 
the Pennsylvania President, there is little doubt that 
"Jeff" Davis and the other conspirators of the secession 
movement would have halted in their attempt to over- 
throw the Government and found a new republic with 
slavery for its cornerstone ; but perhaps it has turned out 
all very well for the whole nation, as through the blood 
shed in the war and the intercourse between the North and 
South, through the mingling of the soldiers on the battle- 
fields during the struggle and at its close there came to 
be a better understanding between the sections, and what 
was misunderstood before 1860 is now fully compre- 
hended, and the South does not believe to-day that one 
man there is more potential than three Yankees, nor 
could the most blatant abolitionist fail to have superior 
understanding of the courage and high character and 
tireless efforts for the lost cause of the leaders of those 
who followed the "Stars and Bars." 

It is all past and gone, and those who sleep in the na- 
tional cemeteries of the country, at Arlington and all the 
other burial places in the country, have paid the penalty, 
but as Abraham Lincoln said in the wonderful inaugural 
of his second term, "If we shall suppose that American 
slavery is one of those offenses which, having continued 
through His appointed time. He now wills to remove, 
and that he gives to North and South this terrible war as 

284 



The City of Washington and Washington Life 

the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we 
discern therein any departure from those divine attri- 
butes which the believers in a living God always ascribe 
to Him? 

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this 
mighty scourge of war may soon pass away. Yet if God 
wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the 
bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited 
toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by 
the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, 
as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be 
said, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous 
altogether.' " 



285 



CHAPTER XXII 

AT THE EDITORIAL DESK AGAIN 

In 1899 we moved back to Media and I took up active 
work again at my desk in the Media Ledger office. This 
paper I had bought when politics was very lively and it 
was necessary to have some sort of a mouth-piece to 
repel the opposition and tax upon me. The paper origi- 
nally was started by a man from Maryland, a Democrat, 
who came here with his three sons and family and got a 
lot of yearly subscriptions to the paper from the Demo- 
crats, but as these subscribers did not materiaUze as fully 
as he anticipated, the result was that the paper got down 
at the heel. I found it a very convenient avenue to pub- 
lish articles in favor of my own cause or to defend my 
friends, and would pay the owner of the paper for them 
as they were inserted. Finally the paper went into the 
sheriff's hands and I bought it at the sale. Of course, I 
changed the political nature of it and made it a Repub- 
lican sheet. 

In 1895 I built, on the corner of Jackson and State 
Streets, one of the most substantial buildings in Media 
as an office for the Ledger plant and for the composition, 
press and engine rooms. 

I found it very congenial work editing a country news- 
paper again at the county seat, although the day of 
a weekly newspaper had almost passed, yet the Ledger 
was recognized as having a special attraction on account 
of the editorials from my pen. and we had a large sub- 
scription list which was held for this reason alone, as I 
never had any hesitancy in speaking my mind on any 
matter, political, civil, or religious, the whole time I 
owned it, and nobody owned it but myself. It really was 
the only paper of the county that could be said to be 
absolutely Republican and independent. 

With the loss of my seat in Congress, to some extent 
my prestige and leadership in the county was diminished. 

287 



At the Editorial Desk Again 

As my right hand man, William L. Mathues, since de- 
ceased, whom I had made prothonotary and political 
lieutenant, took charge of the active work of running the 
organization, I was very glad to give it over to him. He 
had a natural faculty for politics, and for a good while 
proved to be a very successful head to the organization. 

In 1900 the long-standing promise to give me a Fed- 
eral political office was redeemed, and I was asked 
whether I would take the United States marshalship, a 
position in the eastern district of Pennsylvania. I in- 
quired into the duties of the position, and, finding them 
very agreeable, with very little responsibility and a com- 
pensation of four thousand dollars a year, I accepted the 
office and was sworn in on May 1, 1900. 

Good luck is often accompanied by the black specter 
of bad luck, and two days before I was appointed to this 
position I received a telegram from Pittsburgh of the 
death of my elder brother, James Robinson. I was 
sworn in as marshal in the morning of May 1, 1900, and 
left the court room for Broad Street Station, taking the 
train for the West to attend the funeral, and saw that 
all the circumstances of his interment were proper and 
suitable. The members of the G. A. R. to which he be- 
longed attended to the details of his funeral. The body 
was buried in the family lot in the Allegheny Cemetery, 
where there are so many of our family interred that my 
son-in-law, Mr. Wyckoff, the first time he went with me 
to this cemetery, made the remark, "Why, the Robinsons 
are all dead ones." I think I showed some of them in 
some of my political contests in the county, and also in 
some of the articles I wrote for the newspapers and for 
my own paper, the Media Ledger, that I still was quite 
somewhat alive. The position of United States marshal 
is that of sheriff to the United States District and Cir- 
cuit Courts, but it is surprising how many people do not 
know what the duties of the United States marshal are 
nor how to spell the name. Of all the letters I received 
while in the position, I think I can safely say that more 

288 



At the Editorial Desk Again 

than seventy-five per cent, of them spelt the name mar- 
shal with two I's. 

My predecessor in the office was the Hon. James B. 
Reilley, of Pottsville, Pa., a very estimable Democratic 
lawyer who had served in Congress with me and whose 
acquaintance and friendship I have enjoyed for a 
number of years. He had been appointed in April, 1896, 
by President Cleveland, and his commission ran for four 
years. He was not disturbed during the term of Presi- 
dent McKinley after the 4th of March, 1897, but re- 
mained in the office until May 1, 1900, when I succeeded 
him. In point of fact, he not only served out his four 
years but some little time over. When it came my turn, 
thirteen years later, to serve under a Democratic admin- 
istration I enjoyed no such grace from the President or 
the Department of Justice, but was requested to resign 
very promptly after the Wilson administration had got- 
ten warmly seated in the White House. 

My chief deputy in the marshalship was Thomas 
Marple, of Philadelphia, who had been in the office for 
quite a number of years. He was a veteran of the Civil 
War and had been wounded in battle. He was one of 
the most faithful public officials I ever met in a long 
career of public service. He loved work, and with the 
exception of John G. Johnson, the lawyer whom I 
studied law with, I know of no man who could do more 
work or loved work better for its own sake. Most peo- 
ple rather dislike work. Robert Ingersoll used to say 
that "every day was labor day to him," and when he did 
not work he felt unhappy. That was the way with this 
chief deputy. He wanted to do all of the work of the 
office himself, and really was capable of performing most 
of it, as he would generally correct or go over the papers 
of the other deputies and assistants who had to serve 
writs or attend to the details of the office. The other 
gentlemen in the office were Mr. Abram Myers, who died 
only last year, a Democrat whom I allowed to remain 
in the office on account of his fidelity and efficiency 

289 



At the Editorial Desk Again 

and good record; Captain Joseph H. Huddell, whom 
I appointed to a vacancy caused by the resignation 
of one of the deputies of Mr. Reilley, and Mr. Solo- 
mon Foster, of Scranton, Pa., a well-known newspaper 
man. Captain Huddell had been during all my campaign 
in Delaware County my right-hand man and very close 
to me in every way; in fact, he was more like a father to 
me than any other man that lived or that I had known 
since my own father died, when I was nine years of age. 
When I was appointed to the office Colonel Quay sent 
for me and asked me if I would accept a place. I told 
him I would be very glad to do so. After I had exam- 
ined into it and saw what I had to do and whether I 
could perform the duties with integrity and competency, 
he said to me, "J^^ck, if you get in there I hope you will 
stay hitched," meaning, I suppose, that I had a little 
tendency to independence in my constitution politically, 
as I had made one or two political contests without ask- 
ing the consent of any political leader, himself included, 
which in my belief was the proper way of doing it; but 
some persons are more subservient to others and rather 
like a master, and there are still others who are like dogs 
who prefer to wear a collar, as it is not only an orna- 
ment to them, but it tells the public who they are, as the 
collar did on the Prince of Wales' dog in England sev- 
eral years ago, which was inscribed with the couplet, '*I 
am the Prince's dog at Kew ; pray tell me, sir, whose dog 
are you?" Some politicians that I have known and met 
have had collars on them with similar mottoes para- 
phrased. I replied to Senator Quay by saying, "My dear 
Senator, I have always stayed hitched when I thought the 
hitching post was the proper place to remain, but when 
I didn't I untied myself and gave full notice of the fact 
to the world. Now, as long as I am in this office I will 
be true and loyal to those who have put me there and to 
their interest, but when I cannot be so I will ask the de- 
partment to let me resign." The Senator said that was 
very satisfactory. A few days afterward, when I was 

290 



At the Editorial Desk Again 

sworn in, the Hon. James B. McPherson, United States 
district judge, handed me my commission signed by 
William McKinley, which hangs on my Hbrary wall to- 
day. 

During the time I was in the marshalship I conducted 
my newspaper at Media, as it gave me something to work 
at and was a source of some revenue. I nearly always 
supported the candidates named by the organization, rep- 
resented at the head by William L. Mathues, through the 
columns of my paper, advocating the election of the Re- 
publican ticket, National, State and local, where it was 
fit and the candidates were men of integrity and capacity. 
It is my opinion that a newspaper has a great deal more 
influence when it takes a position of this kind than where 
it is abjectly at the service of any dominant person po- 
litically or commercially, and particularly where the serv- 
ices of the paper are made the subject of barter or sale. 

My duties as United States marshal took me to Phila- 
delphia almost daily, and although I remained at the 
ofifice at Ninth and Chestnut Streets in the Post Office 
Building but a very short time during the day, suffi- 
ciently long to transact all the official business and within 
call for any business that might come up, I found that 
when my four years were up and President Roosevelt 
had taken charge of the Government after the assassina- 
tion of President McKinley, there was opposition to my 
reappointment from the organization in Delaware 
County. The gentleman who was an aspirant for the 
place was the Hon. Crosby M. Black, of Chester, Pa., an 
ex-mayor of that city, a man of high standing and char- 
acter there, and in every way qualified to fill the marshal- 
ship. As, however, I did not want to give up the office, 
naturally I made every effort to rally my friends to urge 
the President to reappoint me. The matter hung fire for 
quite a long while, and many persons thought that Mr. 
Black would be appointed, but I had assurances from 
Washington early in the contention that I would be re- 
commissioned. The leader of Chester at that time was a 

291 



'At the Editorial Desk Again 

large liquor merchant, William J. McClure, a man of 
very keen political sagacity and quite noiseless in his po- 
litical movements, who was back of the attempt to give 
Mr. Black the place I held, and of course I knew that he 
was a very strong man to combat, but after the matter 
had remained in abeyance for about nine months I re- 
ceived word from Washington that my name was to be 
sent to the Senate by President Roosevelt, and it was so 
sent to the Judiciary Committee and I was unanimously 
confirmed, and had the pleasure of receiving my commis- 
sion from United States District Judge Holland, signed 
by the historic character who had defeated me as As- 
sistant Secretary of the Navy a few years before — Theo- 
dore Roosevelt. I am very proud of it, as I also am of 
the one signed by the lamented McKinley. 

I had no more trouble in the way of opposition, and 
had the pleasure of serving in the office for a number of 
years. After this I was elected national delegate to the 
convention at Chicago which nominated the Hon. Wil- 
liam Howard Taft to be President, and I received my last 
commission in 1909. This valuable piece of parchment 
also hangs on my library wall, and I am more than proud 
of it, as it represents the signature of a man for whom I 
labored, spoke and voted, whose courage and ability the 
whole country admired, and who took his defeat in 1912 
so heroically and with such an utter absence of any re- 
sentment. His four years at Washington, as I think I 
have said, were four years of good Republican rule. The 
whole country boomed and prospered under his adminis- 
tration and the protection principles which he conserved. 
The only criticism that could be made against President 
Taft may have been that he was a little too lenient re- 
garding Democrats in office when their commissions had 
expired and when he had a chance to appoint good Re- 
publicans to their places. I don't mean to say that I 
would have justified him in violating the civil service 
rule, but there were many opportunities to put Republi- 
cans on guard that he could have taken advantage of, and 

292 



At the Editorial Desk Again 

it would have strengthened the party and availed him a 
good deal in the 1912 fight; but, of course, when the 
indomitable "Teddy" flew the coop in 1912, in which 
coop he himself had been put in the same way in 1904, 
and in the very same way as Mr. Taft had been in 1908, 
there was absolutely no hope of electing a Republican. 
This led to the election of the Hon. Woodrow Wilson, a 
minority President. 

Elected in the manner he was and by the vote he re- 
ceived, one would have supposed that the policy of his 
administration would have been confined to at least a re- 
striction upon the legislation which the Republicans had 
put upon the statute books for the benefit of the country, 
but, on the contrary. President Wilson, as soon as he had 
formed his cabinet and gotten matters well in hand, went 
to work to change the whole administrative policy of 
the country, and not much for the better if we are to be- 
lieve the best judges of political economy. 

The great continental war has been beneficial to this 
country in a financial way, as large sums of money have 
been pouring in to buy the munitions of war for the 
Allies, thereby supplying the deficit that surely would 
have been very large if we had been running along en- 
tirely under the Wilson administration and the legisla- 
tion passed by the Democratic Congress of 1913-14. The 
outlook for the future is particularly auspicious for the 
Republican party. All signs point to a victory in 1916. 
There is no doubt but what Woodrow Wilson will be re- 
nominated by his own party, but there will be no Re- 
publican division, no "Bull Moose" party with a Roose- 
velt as a disturbing element to set the country aflame 
from one end of it to the other. He has absolutely shot 
his political bolt, and while he interferes in nearly every- 
thing that comes up, and is interviewed on all the sub- 
jects of the day, yet there is not that wild enthusiasm for 
him that prevailed in 1911 and 1912. Who the Repub- 
lican nominee for President will be is a problem, but there 
is plenty of good material, and it is to be hoped that the 

293 



At the Editorial Desk Again 

National Convention will be held in the city of Philadel- 
phia and that the campaign of 1916 will start off under 
the good luck auspices which won it so many victories 
when nominations were made in that city. 



294 



CHAPTER XXIII 

FUGITIVE PIECES 

The pieces that compose this chapter were written 
some time ago, and many of them will be of interest to 
Pittsburghers and also persons in this county and Phila- 
delphia. They have never been used in book form and 
will, I think, be more interesting than would be original 
matter of the same kind. 

GALLANT TARS 

men furnished the united states navy by PENN- 
SYLVANIA 

The late Alexander Murray, whose remains were so 
recently interred in the Allegheny Cemetery, was one of 
the few Pittsburgh boys who achieved the highest honors 
and eminence in the national service. He died a rear 
admiral — the highest grade of service in the United 
States Navy — at his own home, Washington, highly re- 
spected by all who knew him officially and with a record 
covering a half-century of career afloat and ashore, for 
capacity, bravery and honor equaled by few officers. Ad- 
miral Murray entered the navy in 1835, and, as mid- 
shipman, lieutenant and commanding officer, he served 
in every quarter of the globe prior to the war. During 
the war his services were eminently patriotic and brave. 
Indeed, he was tried in three wars, serving off the 
Florida coast in the Seminole War and in the Pacific 
squadron during the Mexican conflict, where he was 
wounded at the taking of Alvarado. Subsequently to 
this, in 1849-51, he cruised in the Mediterranean. His 
services at the battle of Kingston, N. C, in 1862, and 
during the combined military and naval expedition up 
the Pamunkey and Fork Rivers proved his skill and 
valor. At the close of the war he commanded the Ports- 

295 



Fugitive Pieces 

mouth Navy Yard, where, I believe, he married. He was 
selected for special command of the squadron which vis- 
ited the Russian capital in 1867, bearing Assistant Sec- 
retary of the Navy Fox and the good wishes of this 
Government officially to the Czar Alexander for his 
steadfast amity during the Civil War. Admiral Murray 
commanded the sloop Augusta, and in the fleet was the 
armored, turreted ironclad Miantonomah — the first of 
her class to cross the Atlantic. On this visit Captain 
Murray was the recipient of a handsome present from 
the Czar, as were all the officers of the fleet, which was 
received with the highest honors wherever it went in the 
Baltic and Neva. Captain Murray was later stationed 
at the old naval yard in this city, and flew his blue peter 
as commodore in command of the Pacific squadron in 
1871, taking with him on this occasion as his secretary 
his nephew, Alex. Murray Guthrie, Esq., of Pittsburgh. 

HIS GAME OF WHIST 

The commodore, like all old salts, was passionately 
fond of a game of whist and was an excellent player. 
His nephew took equally as good a hand, and when sit- 
ting opposite to each other at the rigors of the game 
they were no mean match for Cavendish and Pole. 

During this cruise Captain Maury, who commanded 
one of the Pacific Mail coast liners, and who was one of 
Murray's old companions in service prior to the war, but 
who espoused the Southern cause, was wrecked on a 
sand-bar off Monterey, losing his vessel, cargo and all 
personal effects, reaching land with his crew in the clothes 
only on their backs. A relief subscription was taken up 
on the United States flagship, and Commodore Murray 
headed it with a very handsome sum. Some cynical sub- 
officers, familiar with the commodore's fondness for and 
superiority at whist, were wont to depreciate the charity 
by saying, "Oh, the old gentleman will go ashore to-night 

296 



Fugitive Pieces 

and he and his secretary will win it all back from Maury 
before morning." Commodore Murray attained the ad- 
miralty in 1876 and retired, at his own request, a few 
years later. In his long and eventful career in the navy 
he displayed always the highest qualities of a sailor and 
officer. When a young man he was fearless, genial and 
the life of the gun-room mess. In stature he was tall and 
of slight build, but symmetrical, of handsome demeanor 
and courtly manners, and when in full uniform and on 
the quarter-deck not only looked but was the thoroughly 
competent commander. 

GALLANT PENNSYLVANIA SAILORS 

He attained the highest rank, I believe, of any Pitts- 
burgher in the marine service, and this slight sketch of 
him may be appreciated. Pittsburgh is not undistin- 
guished by the list of men who went from her smoky 
surroundings to the sea. Among the first burials in the 
old Allegheny Cemetery after its purchase in 1845 were 
those of Commodore Barney and Lieutenant James 
Walker Parker, of the navy. Barney was a very distin- 
guished Revolutionary naval officer who died during a 
casual visit to Pittsburgh. He had attained to the chief 
command in the old service at his decease. Those Pitts- 
burghers who possess one of the early reports of the 
Allegheny Cemetery Company will read therein an inter- 
esting and eloquent address by the late Judge McCand- 
less, delivered in 1848 at the burial of Commodore Bar- 
ney and Lieutenant Parker, who was mortally wounded 
at Tabasco during the Mexican War. Lieutenant Sew- 
ell, of the Duquesne Grays — a gallant and chivalrous 
young officer — who met his death at Pueblo, was buried 
at the same time. Parker was one of the bravest officers 
in the old navy. He was born in Pittsburgh and was ap- 
pointed a midshipman by Old Hickory on presentation 

297 



Fugitive Pieces 

of his own case to the President over 124 other appli- 
cants. Like Decatur or Gushing, no deed was too daring 
for Jim Parker. He cut out the Creole under the guns 
of San Juan de Ulloa and officered the boat that rescued 
the survivors of the fatal brig Somers — the vessel that 
previously had young Spencer swung to her yard-arm — 
capsized in a norther, and met his death on shore duty 
for which he had appHed, chafing under the inaction of 
the fleet, when the military was winning glory in the 
march from Vera Cruz to Molino del Rey and the 
capital. 

I recall a story told me by a grand-aunt apropos of 
Parker. She was walking one day with the wife — or, 
perhaps, at that time the fiancee — of the gallant lieuten- 
ant, who was then stationed in the remote Pacific. In 
those early days, before cables and steamships, mail com- 
munication between the Indies and the United States was 
often a matter of many months, and exchanging letters 
was the business of a year or more. The promenade of 
my kinswoman and Mrs. Parker lay to the post office, 
where the latter received a long-looked-for and dearly 
prized letter from him who was to her the chosen being 
in the world, although a hemisphere divided them. On 
the way home their route lay over the old Allegheny 
bridge, and while crossing this Mrs. Parker took the op- 
portunity to open the letter. While unfolding it and 
eager to seize the contents, a sudden gust of wind caught 
it up and carried it beyond the rail, where, floating and 
scurrying, it slowly settled down into the waters of the 
river nearly a mile away and hopelessly beyond reach. 
The relator of the incident said never could she forget 
the look of absolute and painful disappointment, blended 
with tears, on Mrs. Parker's face, as the cruel wind tore 
the cherished missive away. 

Lieutenant Parker entered the naval service in 1831 
and was senior to Admiral Murray four years. 

298 



Fugitive Pieces 

PITTSBURGH OFFICERS 

Lieutenant Thomas M. Crossan — another Pittsburgh 
officer and the brother of the late John McD. Crossan — 
entered the service in 1836. Tom Crossan was one of 
the most popular and gallant officers of the old service. 
Genial, whole-hearted and a thorough sailor, he was led 
by affiliations with the Southern officers to take service 
with the South during the war. It was a temptation few 
could resist, as all the old naval officialism was Southern. 
Captain Crossan's choice and record was offset by the 
gallant career of his young nephew, James C. Chaplin, 
who entered the navy in 1850, graduated with distinction, 
and served throughout the war with the highest courage. 
Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania has furnished 
many conspicuous names to the naval branch of the na- 
tional service. Among the line officers I can recall with- 
out special effort Lieutenant William Little, son of Wil- 
liam Little, Esq., of the Safe Deposit Company, your well- 
known townsman; Lieutenant Commander George C. 
Reiter, son of the late Dr. Reiter, the distinguished phy- 
sician; Commander William Stewart, son of Tariff 
Andy, of Fayette, who lost his life on the sloop Oneida 
in the collision with the British P. & O. Mailer, in Yoko- 
hama harbor, Japan, in 1870; Commanders H. F. Pick- 
ing, of Somerset, one of the most accomplished officers 
in the navy ; Jas. C. Robertson, who died at his post with 
yellow fever; and Jim Gillis, of Beaver, who had a fa- 
mous notoriety and experience in command of the 
Wateree, on the South American coast during an earth- 
quake, followed by a tidal wave, which took his vessel, 
crew and all, a mile and a half inland and left her there, 
high and dry — not to mention the long list of distin- 
guished officers of the staff corps of the United States 
Navy, who, many of them, bore an honorable part in the 
late rebellion — but, I would be trespassing on the domain 
of the historian to extend this brief mention. 

299 



Fugitive Pieces 
SOME NOTABLE PEOPLE 

Dr. John K. Kane, who died last week at Summit, N. 
J., rather unexpectedly, in the prime of life, adds another 
name to the obituary list of a celebrated family. It was 
but a little while ago that his brother, General Thomas 
Lieper Kane, the brave commander of the Bucktails, 
passed away. Elisha Kent Kane, the Arctic explorer, 
was the oldest of these brothers and the most distin- 
guished. With Robert Patterson Kane, still residing in 
Philadelphia, they were all children of Judge John Kint- 
zing Kane, who sat on the bench of the United States Dis- 
trict Court in this city many years, and was a gentleman 
of the old school, both of politics and manners. Philadel- 
phians of the early days, who were wont to drive out the 
country roads to the southwest or north and east of the 
city, will remember two familiar old homesteads, where 
a hospitality that drew much of its grace and generosity 
from the Revolutionary period, was dispensed. One was 
the country seat of Judge John K. Kane, Rensselaer, 
afterward Fern Rock, near Germantown: the other, the 
romantic manor of Thomas Lieper — and after his day 
the home of Judge George Lieper — in Ridley township, 
not far from the old Queen's highway, near Chester. 

Thomas Lieper came to America from Scotland in 
1764, settling first in Virginia and afterward in Philadel- 
phia, where he acquired a fortune in business prior to 
the Revolution. An ardent Whig, he was the first man 
in Penn's colony to advocate a rupture with the crown. 
It was his fortune to be one of the last to lay down arms, 
for as treasurer of the First City Troop he bore the last 
French subsidies to Yorktown. He was orderly sergeant, 
treasurer and secretary of the City Troop, president of 
the Common Council of this city, frequently a Presiden- 
tial elector and an intimate personal friend of Thomas 
Jefferson in the days when Jeffersonian simplicity was 
an actuality. Dr. Rush, in his "Lives of Eminent Phila- 
delphians," says that Jefferson stated it was only to his 

300 



Fugitive Pieces 

table, that of Major Butler, of South Carolina, and Mr. 
Lieper he was ever invited in the days of Federal perse- 
cution, and that here in this city — think of it, O Com- 
monwealth Club ! — Federalists used to cross the streets 
to avoid the illustrious author of the Declaration. 

The Kanes and the Liepers intermarried and the three 
dead brothers Kane, each of whom has an enviable rec- 
ord, were grandsons of this Scotchman from Strathaven, 
Thomas Lieper. Their grandmother, Helen Hamilton, 
was of the Hamiltons, of Kipe. The blood was good and 
it told. Thomas Lieper gave largely of his private for- 
tune to assist the colonists, at one time £5000 — an enor- 
mous sum for his day — to the North American Bank 
fund. After the war he gave $100,000 to this State in 
subscriptions to various public improvements. On his 
place he introduced many of these to develop the famous 
quarries which bear his name. He built a canal when 
such aids to transportation were novelties, and the first 
railroad in the country was the one leading from his 
quarries to tidewater and which is still in use. He died 
at the advanced age of eighty-five, in 1825. His son. 
Judge George Lieper, was associate justice, and a con- 
gressman from 1829 to 1831, in Delaware County. Two 
other grandsons. General Charles L Lieper and Captain 
Thomas I. Lieper, made highly creditable records in the 
Civil War. A daughter of the latter, who was a leading 
manufacturer of Chester, married William A. Magee, as- 
sistant controller of Pittsburgh, and brother of the promi- 
nent politician, Chris. Magee. The old patrimonial man- 
sion of the Liepers, having about it the flavor of the 
olden time, still stands overlooking the great quarries on 
the banks of Crum Creek, about a mile south of Walling- 
ford, on the West Chester Railroad. 

John K. Kane was the favorite law student of Judge 
Hopkinson, and as a Yale graduate gave brilliant promise 
on entering the Bar. The promise fruited well and he 
became attorney general of the State by Governor 
Shunk's appointment in 1845. This was only a half-way 

301 



Fugitive Pieces 

house of honor, however, as President Polk owed him 
much for the famous tariff letter of the 1844 campaign, 
which the obscure Tennesseean had framed for him to 
Judge Kane and which kept Pennsylvania in line for the 
Democracy against the appeals of the protectionist Whigs 
and their idol, Clay. Polk appointed Kane in 1846 to 
the district judgeship made vacant by the death of Judge 
Randall, and there he served until his death, through 
stormy times and serene ones, always with suavity, legal 
ability and unswerving integrity. In person he was 
handsome, of slender build and medium height, fine eyes, 
aquiline nose and excellent teeth, and in dress was like 
the old school, scrupulously exact and liked to see the 
same neatness in the practitioners about him. Judge 
Kane's latest prominence was in the time when the anti- 
slavery excitement ran high. Like most of the Demo- 
cratic officials of the slavery days he despised the aboli- 
tion agitation, which was constantly interfering with the 
aristocratic peculiar institution. It was Judge Kane who 
committed Passmore Williamson for contempt, an action 
variously viewed by our fathers, and it was he who said 
to the Friends and others who thought Williamson's 
committal a harsh procedure : "He carries the key of his 
jail in his own pocket," meaning he could purge his con- 
tempt. 

When the frigate Brandyzvine, under Commodore 
Parker — the vessel specially built to take the Marquis 
Lafayette back to France after his last visit to this coun- 
try — was going out to China in 1843 with Caleb Cushing, 
on a special envoy. Judge Kane asked President Tyler 
for his eldest son's appointment as physician to the em- 
bassy, and he was so commissioned. This was the be- 
ginning of Elisha Kent Kane's adventurous career, so 
graphically described in Elder's life, which those of us 
who were boys along in the '50's remember so well — ^his 
adventures in South America, in British India, China, 
Egypt, on the continent, the west coast, in Mexico during 
the war — for on his return home he got transferred into 

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the army — ^his successive Arctic voyages closing with the 
thrilling two winters in the Advance almost under the 
twinkle of the North Star, his ice march back, rescue by 
Hartstene and triumphal return to this country to re- 
ceive from it and foreign powers the homage of true 
bravery and intrepidity. 

Dr. Kane, the explorer, like the lately deceased brother, 
was educated a physician, and before he was of age he 
was resident physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital. 
His record proved him, like his brother, the general, a 
commander of men. He was the first to imbue Arctic 
voyaging with the glamour of romance, and the fatal 
Jeannette and Greely expeditions drew their inspiration 
as much from the story of the Advance as from love of 
science. Kane's open Polar Sea theory has totally given 
away. Doubtless he saw such a sea, as Arctic topog- 
raphy varies with the thermal averages, but explorers 
now agree that the paleocristic seas which Markham and 
Nares added to the cartography of the regions within 
the circle best describes the Pelion on Ossa piled of 
primeval ice, which covers these northern areas of eternal 
silence and gloom. 

Some of us remember just before the war a noted 
funeral from the old Presbyterian Church of Dr. Cuyler, 
at Seventh near Arch, now, with other buildings, gone 
like its illustrious tenant of that day. Dr. Kane. He died 
at an early age, thirty-seven, and though always an in- 
valid and sufferer had crowded an immense amount of 
work into his brief career and reached the fame he 
yearned for with feverish activity. The famous "Buck- 
tails" which General Tom Kane, Charles Biddle and Roy 
Stone led to many a gallant fight owe their origin to an 
idea of Dr. Kane's. In one of his Arctic visits the 
thought entered his mind that such a body of backwoods- 
men would be of inestimable service in Polar exploita- 
tion requiring nerve, hardihood and iron physique. Gen- 
eral Kane took it up at the outbreak of the war. The 
explorer Kane had a belief — not an erroneous one, as a 

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rule — that sailors were no account ashore, were "web- 
footed," as he said (an expression afterward adopted by 
President Lincoln, who used to speak of the navy as 
Uncle Sam's "webfoot"). 

Amos Bonsall, lately deceased, one of Kane's explorers 
with the Advance, lived in this city, where he was widely 
known for his interest in city charities, being on the 
Board of Trustees of the House of Refuge and other elee- 
mosynary institutions. He was a gentleman of quiet 
ways and tastes, of middle age and well preserved, and 
to look at him one would never suspect his early life was 
coupled with an Arctic adventure which made every par- 
ticipant famous in greater or less degree. Dr. John K. 
Kane, who lately died, resided at Wilmington, where he 
practiced his profession, in which he was a leading 
scholar and authority. In 1856 he accompanied as sur- 
geon the relief expedition to rescue his brother and 
party. His wife was the sister of Secretary Bayard. 

IN OTHER POLITICAL DAYS 

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE 
FOR SHERIFF AND HIS FAMILY 

Dallas Sanders, the Democratic nominee for sheriff, 
comes of an historical political family, blue-blooded and 
Democratic from away back. His father was Captain 
John Sanders, of the United States Army, and his 
mother one of the daughters of William Wilkins, United 
States Senator from this State in 1831-34, Secretary of 
War under Polk from 1844-45, subsequently Minister to 
Russia, and late in life member of the Pennsylvania Leg- 
islature. There was no more prominent man in the poli- 
tics of this State in his day than William Wilkins, whose 
residence was Homewood, near Pittsburgh, for the 
greater part of his life and where he died in 1865. Wil- 
liam Wilkins was born in Carlisle in 1779 and early went 

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West to grow up with the country, settling in Pittsburgh, 
where he became its leading citizen and remained such 
till his death, at the close of the war, at the advanced age 
of eighty-six. His first wife was Catherine Holmes, of 
Baltimore; his second Miss Dallas, second daughter of 
Alexander J. Dallas, Secretary of the Treasury under 
Madison, and sister of George M. Dallas, United States 
Senator from this State from 1831-34 and Vice-Presi- 
dent with Polk. 

On both sides of his maternal ancestors young Sanders 
draws an hereditary political predilection. Alexander J- 
Dallas was first secretary of this State under Thomas 
Mifflin, the first Governor under the Constitution of 1 790. 
No doubt out of the close political affiliation between 
Governor Mifflin and Mr. Dallas he called his son George 
Mifflin, which has descended to the present eminent law- 
yer of the name. George M. Dallas, the elder, was attor- 
ney general of this State under Governor Wolf and suc- 
ceeded Senator Barnard in the United States Senate dur- 
ing Jackson's second term. He went out of this body in 
1834, but returned ten years later to preside over it with 
much grace and dignity as the Vice-President under 
Polk. 

William Wilkins was, of course, brother-in-law to 
Dallas, and both were in the United States Senate at the 
same time from this State, and again in the Polk regime 
one was Vice-President and the other Secretary of State. 
Living respectively at east and west end of this State and 
having large family influences and connections, imbued 
with the Jacksonian doctrine and worshiping that politi- 
cal chief, one has only to be acquainted with some old 
family history to know that Dallas and Wilkins ran the 
politics of this Commonwealth for a number of years — 
always, however, ably and gracefully at all times. 

The name of Dallas always calls up some queer po- 
litical reminiscences, and to old Whigs and their de- 
scendants, Henry Clay and strong tariff men, it was like 

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a red rag to a bull, as Vice-President Dallas was always 
charged with sacrificing Pennsylvania interests to the 
South in his casting vote in the United States Senate re- 
pealing the tariff of 1842. The more so as he was elected 
in 1844 on the tariff issue. 

Polk, as is well known, was an unknown dark horse, 
taken up at the Baltimore convention of 1844 to defeat 
the little magician Van Buren. The latter had been licked 
out of his boots in the "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" vic- 
tory of 1840. He desired vindication, but some expres- 
sions let fall in the Texas annexation question in a public 
speech in the spring of 1844 rendered him obnoxious to 
the annexationists and strong pro-slavery men of the 
South, who formed a cabal, in which Robert J. Walker, 
a native of this State but a free trader and Southern 
man afterward through his marital relations in Missis- 
sippi, was a leading, if not the leading spirit. Van Buren 
had a majority of the delegates, but the two-thirds rule 
had been previously adopted to kill him. It was suc- 
cessful, as he never got above a majority, and after long 
balloting, Polk, of Tennessee, was trotted out by "some 
original Polk man," and by a deep-laid plan stampeded 
through. 

To conciliate the friends of the Kinderhook Fox, the 
anti-Van Buren faction, as the Garfield anti-Grant men 
did at Chicago, nominated Silas Wright, of New York, 
a very popular and able Democrat and close ally of the 
defeated Van Buren, for second place. He declined, and 
with the general queries of "Who is Polk?" the dis- 
gruntled Van Burenites and the enthusiastic Whigs, under 
their idol, Clay, things looked blue when Dallas was se- 
lected to fill the second place on the ticket. His selection 
was a concession to Pennsylvania — as a few years before 
she had cast her electoral vote for Wilkins for this place 
— and the tariff feeling. 

The 1844 campaign in this State was fought by the 
Democrats on the cry of "Polk and Dallas, Shunk and the 
tariff of '42." Polk, who had no views on the tariff, had 

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a letter to Judge Kane, of this city, cooked up for him, 
and this letter, with the local impulse of Dallas' nomina- 
tion and Clay's unfortunate Tuscaloosa letter, helped to 
carry the State for Polk, so when Dallas gave the cast- 
ing vote in 1846 against what it was thought by the 
Whigs he was pledged against in the campaign in which 
he was elected they were naturally much incensed. 

The defeat of Van Buren by Polk led to a strange se- 
quence of political events. Wright went home and ran 
for Governor in his State and was elected by a much 
larger majority than the Presidential ticket — the latter 
barely getting through — the Liberty party vote holding 
the balance of power. He died shortly after. Van 
Buren did not get over his defeat for a long time — even 
went into a lot of "side shows," such as the Free-Soil 
movement. It was his vengeance in remembrance of 
defeat at Baltimore that defeated the Democratic national 
ticket and Cass in 1848. Van Buren lost his nomination 
in 1844 by a speech on the Texas question. Clay by 
writing a letter on the same subject lost the election. Van 
Buren was the greatest boss politician and spoilsman this 
country so far has produced. He held more offices and 
higher ones than any American citizen since the forma- 
tion of the Government. At the same time he was one 
of the original Mugwumps, as his action in 1848 proves. 

Vice-President Dallas died in this city in 1864 before 
Judge Wilkins, his distinguished mentor and relative. 
Mrs. Wilkins lived until a short time ago. highly re- 
spected in this city, full of years and political remi- 
niscences of past events. Another daughter, sister of 
Mrs. Sanders, was the wife of the late James A. Hutch- 
inson, of Pittsburgh, and his sister was Mrs. Edwin M. 
Stanton, wife of the great war minister. Another was 
the wife of the late Captain Carr, of the United States 
Army. A brother of young Dallas Sanders, Paymaster 
Gary Sanders, was lost off the Carolina coast in the 
memorable wreck of the United States sloop of war 
Huron, in November, 1877. 

307 



Fugitive Pieces 
THE SIXTH DISTRICT 

REMINISCENCES OF THE LATE JOHN HICKMAN. INCI- 
DENTS IN THE CAREER OF A CONGRESSMAN OF 
NATIONAL REPUTATION IN THE ANTI- 
SLAVERY DAYS 

The bold fling into independence of Hon. James B. 
Everhart against the nomination of Smedley Darlington 
recalls the great Hickman contests in the anti-slavery 
days, the only point of divergence being in the personal- 
ity of the men, Everhart being quite the reverse of the 
noted recalcitrant who so worried the Pierce and Bu- 
chanan administrations and gave himself and the Sixth 
Congressional district of this State a national reputation. 
Hickman was jovial, popular and inimitable on the hust- 
ings, and knew almost every man and child in the district 
by name. Everhart, on the contrary, is retired, lacks 
bonhomie and geniality, preferring his library retreat at 
West Chester and the fellowship of his books to mingling 
with his constituency. His integrity and learning have 
never been questioned in the district, but he is best de- 
scribed by the common aphorism referring to literary 
persons and lacks the art to please the "boys." 

Mr. Everhart was in the State Senate, being upon his 
second term when elected in 1882 to serve the Sixth dis- 
trict in Congress. He is in person very small, and wears 
high heels upon his shoes to build up his stature. By in- 
heritance he is the possessor of a large fortune, and in 
his quiet home at West Chester has surrounded himself 
with all the accessories of a man of refined literary tastes 
— a magnificent library, articles of vertu, relics of the 
war, in which he served, and remembrances of his Euro- 
pean travels. Though a bachelor, it is not thought he 
has altogether given over hopes of the married state, as 
both in the legislative and Congressional directories he 
has always invariably refused to give his age, which is 
upward of sixty years. 

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Smedley Darlington, the regular opponent of Ever- 
hart and the almost certain successor, is more of a Hick- 
man in personality than his rival. He is quite popular, 
the friend of almost every one in the two counties of the 
district, whole-souled and hale-fellow-well-met with the 
yeomanry. All over the district he is known familiarly 
as "Smed," and many of his most ardent followers would 
walk from West Chester to Washington to have him 
seated. He is a large man, weighing nigh 200 pounds, 
has a quick business snap about him and is a good off- 
hand speaker. Mr. Darlington also is quite wealthy, hav- 
ing acquired a fortune by robust industry and fortunate 
Western investments. 

The first Whig battle for Congress in the district after 
it was formed was in 1852, when William Everhart, 
father of the present bolting candidate, carried off the 
nomination and election. At that time the district was 
strongly Whig, but the Democrats, on the tide that swept 
General Pierce into the White House by the electoral 
votes of all but four States, looked around in this district 
for some prominent or available person to wrest it from 
the Whigs. They found the man without difficulty, but 
he proved in the sequel to be the greatest thorn in the 
Democracy's side, as it moved to the destruction of 
1860. 

The Sixth district of this State is, perhaps, next to the 
Seventeenth Ohio — Garfield's old district, and Giddings' 
— one where the average intelligence ranks very high. 
Nearly all the voters come of Quaker stock, and the stal- 
wart devotion of this sect to principle is proverbial. It 
was represented in old Federal days by Samuel Edwards ; 
in the anti-Masonic times by Hon. Ed. Darlington, and 
later by Everhart, Hickman, Broomall, Townsend, Ward 
and Everhart, Jr. It always had an able representative, 
but in Hickman it acquired one whose reputation became 
as wide as the country, and who had the exceptional 
honor of serving his district consecutively out of one 

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great party as its regular nominee through all the vicissi- 
tudes of its disintegration into another party equally 
great, and holding his election each time. No man who 
ever had a political career in this country had in the same 
space of time as stormy a one as Hickman. He won all 
but the first and last of his fights against either party 
machinery or combined opposition and through his own 
distinctive abilities. 

In 1852 John Hickman, just turned his fortieth year, 
was a prominent member of the Chester County Bar. 
fluent of speech, popular and fearless. He was a Demo- 
crat, and ran as district attorney shortly after the new 
elective system was established and was elected in that 
strong Whig county. This at once gave him note in his 
party, and in 1854 he easily secured the honor of the 
Congressional nomination. On the Delaware side of the 
district John M. Broomall, who at the time was also a 
leading young attorney, got the Whig nomination, his 
nomination being a triumph of the young Whig element 
over the "old fogies." Broomall's election would have 
been reasonably certain but for Hickman's ability and the 
Know-Nothing excitement, which was then rampant. A 
large Whig contingent had slipped into this delusion. For 
this vote Hickman and Broomall, through their friends, 
maneuvered. Hickman was successful in getting the 
great bulk of it, even in Broomall's own county, and ran 
ahead of him there nearly 100 votes, and in Chester 
County nearly 2500 votes, turning upside down the Whig 
majority of the district in a perfect Waterloo; and 
campaigners say that Hickman could talk so adroitly 
on the stump as to make the oath-bound Americans be- 
lieve (although he never joined) he was a full initiate 
of their lodges. 

This overwhelming return gave Hickman a prestige 
and hearing when he went to Washington, and he 
availed himself of it to make war on the Territorial policy 
of Pierce's administration, stepping to the front at once 

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Fugitive Pieces 

in his first term by the power and fearlessness of his 
utterances, the "still small voice" of the conscience of his 
district cordially supporting him in his bold stand against 
the then almost omnipotent slave power. When he came 
up, in 1856, for renomination he found a defection in his 
own party, but it was more than made up by the Anti- 
Slavery Whigs, who came to him enthusiastically. He 
received the regular Democratic nomination this year. 
John S. Bowen, of Chester County, got the Whig nomi- 
nation, and John Larkin, late mayor of Chester City, in 
Delaware County, was put up by the moribund Ameri- 
can party, then backing Fillmore for President. Larkin 
polled about 500 votes. Bowen, who was not a very 
strong man, got within 86 votes of Hickman in their 
own county, and in Delaware Hickman's majority was 
87, so he just squeezed through with 173 plurality. It 
was evident the anti-Hickman administration Democrats 
had put the knife as near to him as possible. 

The canvass was a memorable one in the district. The 
slow-to-wrath Quaker vengeance had been thoroughly 
aroused by the imprisonment of Passmore Williamson, 
the repeal of the great compromise and the brutal attack 
of Bully Brooks on Senator Sumner. 

This last raised a frenzy of excitement in the district. 
One of the largest indignation meetings ever held in the 
county took place at Media that summer, and Dr. Wil- 
liam Elder, of Philadelphia, among others, spoke. Henry 
Wilson, Anson Burlingame and many other prominent 
early Republicans came into the district and addressed 
large meetings. Hickman spoke with his formidable 
power and popularity at every school house and cross 
roads in the two counties. Although supporting Bu- 
chanan and avowing his purpose to vote for him, he spit 
on the platform generally and was fearless and aggres- 
sive in proclaiming the most bitter opposition to the 
Southern slave encroachments on free soil. 

311 



Fugitive Pieces 

A union of the Fillmore and Fremont county tickets, 
made shortly before the election, swept the Democrats 
completely out of all the court house offices in the district, 
but Hickman was returned over Bowen by the narrow 
margin above. 

By some it is said the Buchanan influence, led by For- 
ney, kept Hickman to the support of the Democratic 
ticket this year, and in return the State Committee aided 
him to defeat Bowen. Some go so far as to allege the 
latter won on the merits, and that fraudulent naturaliza- 
tion papers, bearing the broad seal of the United States 
Court and Ross Snowden's signature, flooded the district. 
These fraudulent papers were out, as some are yet extant 
and in possession of old stagers in Media and West 
Chester. 

Senator Cooper, then a young man just of age, was the 
active secretary of the fusion committee in Delaware 
County, and his paper, then in its initial career, sup- 
ported the Fillmore national ticket, but was friendly to 
Hickman. Hickman went down to the closing session of 
the Thirty-fourth Congress vindicated, and became more 
outspoken and denunciatory than ever against the slavo- 
crats and their Northern subservients. In the organiza- 
tion of the Thirty-fifth Congress he did not support the 
caucus nominee for speaker, and came very shortly to an 
open rupture with Buchanan. He poured hot shot into 
the Lecompton iniquity in a great speech, and, with 
Henry Chapman, of this State, John B, Haskin and 
Horace F. Clarke, of New York, and eight others, broke 
from the party on the English bill. For this he got the 
praise of every free-soil vote in his district and a national 
distinction, though all the power and patronage of an 
administration — the head of it from his own State and 
neighbor county — was used to bring him over. 

In 1858 Hickman ran as an independent, and had an- 
other exciting canvass. The Democratic nominee was a 
Media lawyer — now dead — of ability and popularity, 

312 



Fugitive Pieces 

Charles D. Manley. John M. Broomall was the Repub- 
lican candidate, but has often asserted he would have de- 
clined in Hickman's favor had the latter accepted the 
principles and nomination of the new party, and he only 
kept on the ticket to preserve the party coherency and 
name. Stephen A. Douglas, John W. Forney and other 
leaders of the time visited Hickman and counseled him 
in this canvass. It was up-hill work, but he finally won 
by a clever plurality, beating both Broomall and Manley 
in his own county and running even with his Democratic 
opponent in Delaware. 

Both Manley and Hickman were in Media to hear the 
returns on the night of the election, the latter having 
come down from Chester County. Manley was confi- 
dent, as he read off the figures and scored them, showing 
he had done better than he expected in Delaware, and 
said to the crowd and his opponent, "I have won. John, 
you are beaten; you had better go home!" Hickman 
listened, and as he turned to go away said to a bystander, 
"Well, Manley is confident. He is Congressman, but it 
is only for one night. He will go to sleep a Congressman, 
but he will wake up and find another fellow in the bed." 
He had returns from his own county sufficient to show 
the result before he came down, and the morning proved 
his political sagacity and election by over 1500 majority, 
his own county standing by him cordially. 

Hickman was a warm admirer and friend of Douglas. 
The two were great, as well as genial, and ever fond of 
the food of the gods. Although his stanch friend, Hick- 
man often used to twit the Little Giant, and tell him he 
never would be President. "The seat of your breeches 
is too near the ground, Steve," he would say, in his 
hearty, bluff, familiar way to the great Senator; yet he 
supported the Illinoisan's ambition with loyal devotion — 
the devotion that sprang from admiration of his intellect 
as well as love for the man — and v/as for him in 1860 as 
against Lincoln, though a Republican to every one else 

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Fugitive Pieces 

and the nominee that year of the party in the district 
where his fight had now settled into the level sea of a 
complete triumph of principles. Forney and Hickman 
were also close friends, and he used often to nag the 
great editor for holding out so long and refusing to 
break with Buchanan long after he and others had quit 
the administration. But Forney had made the Lancaster 
statesman President, and hoped against hope for his 
reward, which was no less a plum than the ministry to 
St. James. A letter is still remembered — "private and 
confidential," of course — which Forney used to carry, 
and which he showed to Hickman once, from the then 
occupant of the White House : "Be patient, you shall yet 
represent us abroad." 

Hickman used to put his hand on the shoulder of his 
brilliant editorial friend and say, hissing it between his 
teeth when he came to the last, as if to show the scorn of 
the power and name he once attained to from a party 
standpoint: "Yes, John, be patient, be patient, and the 
d — d old imbecile will give you something; but, come 
with us, and you will never feel your honor grip." For- 
ney finally did go with them, and used all his powers for 
the victory of the new party of freedom. 

Hickman was succeeded by John M. Broomall in 1862. 
Though yet a young man comparatively, he refused to be 
again considered a candidate. Never a strong man 
physically, he was prematurely broken in health. He 
lived about a decade later, and died at the early age of 63, 
being once elected to the State Legislature in 1868. and 
going to the Cincinnati Liberal Convention of 1872, his 
last political service. He was born on the old Brandy- 
wine battlefield, and sleeps after the fitful fever of his 
political career in the beautiful cemetery near by his na- 
tive place and town. A nephew, John W. Hickman, was 
one of the nominees on the Republican legislative ticket 
in Chester County in 1884, the family being a large and 
influential one in the two counties. 

314 



Fugitive Pieces 

COLONEL R. B. ROBERTS AND THE FIRST PENNSYLVANIA 

RESERVES 

The recent death of Colonel R. Biddle Roberts recalls 
some other notable men in his regiment. The First 
Reserves were made up of companies from all over the 
eastern part of the State. General Lemuel Todd brought 
a company down from Cumberland County, many of 
them grandsons of patriotic sires who had fought for 
old Carlisle in the Pennsylvania line. Edward McPher- 
son brought another one, composed of Adams County 
boys, who little thought, on that muster day in Everhart's 
Grove, that two years later on the soil of their own 
native county and State the greatest battle of modern 
times would be fought and the fate of the Union deter- 
mined. Captain Henry Mclntire came with some farmer 
boys from Chester County and he was elected lieutenant 
colonel under Roberts. Poor fellow, he was severely 
wounded at Charles City cross roads and died in 1863. 
A braver Pennsylvania soldier never lived. Colonel W. 
Cooper Tally brought a mixed company of men from the 
farming and manufacturing district of Aston, in Dela- 
ware County, and on the death of Mclntire became the 
colonel of the regiment and after by brevet a brigadier 
general. Tally brought the thinned regiment and tat- 
tered banners which Curtin had intrusted to their honor 
and valor back to the State when the First was mustered 
out in 1864. Colonel Tally, in 1874, was elected a mem- 
ber of the Legislature in his native county — a strong 
Republican district — although a Democrat, showing the 
regard some of his old comrades in arms bore for him. 
He is at present in the United States Government em- 
ploy at the capital. The late Colonel Samuel A. Dyer, 
a prominent banker of the city of Chester, and Major 
Joseph R. T. Coates, of that city, brought a company 
from that locality to muster into this gallant regiment 
which the late Roberts commanded. Both gentlemen 
stood as high in these piping times of peace in the muni- 

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Fugitive Pieces 

cipality where they resided as they did in the estimation 
of the boys of the old First five-and-twenty years ago. 
Ed. McPherson, who brought the Adams County com- 
pany down to the West Chester muster, did not Hke sol- 
diering as well as holding office, and resigned the next 
month after going into Uncle Sam's service, retiring to 
more congenial duties in the legislative halls at the capital. 
No regiment in the State has a better war record than 
the Old First Reserves, and much of this is due to the 
care and intelligent soldierly attention bestowed on it in 
the early days of its organization by Colonel Roberts. 

One member of the Philadelphia Biddle family — a 
brother of Nicholas Biddle, of United States Bank no- 
toriety — went West in the early part of this century, 
studied law in Pittsburgh, entered practice there and be- 
came one of the most prominent citizens of that place. 
Besides the law, for which, like all his celebrated kin, he 
had a thorough taste and aptitude, he dabbled both in 
politics and literature. He wrote a curious biography of 
Sebastian Cabot, the navigator of Venice, who settled in 
Bristol, England, and from there, with a brother, made 
several voyages of discovery to this country. In 
1837 the people of the Pittsburgh district sent Richard 
Biddle to Congress and continued him there two or three 
terms. Judge Wilkins succeeded him in this district, and 
when Tyler called the latter to his cabinet as Secretary 
of War Cornelius Darragh, a brilliant and genial Pitts- 
burgh lawyer, afterward attorney general of the State 
under Governor Johnston, was elected. It was after this 
lawyer, politician and scholar, Richard Biddle — who died 
in 1847 — that the late Colonel Roberts got his name. 

A glance backward shows how gloomily peculiar in its 
isolation is the presence of Jefferson Davis at any his- 
toric scene in this era. Although not nearly as old a man 
as General Cameron, Davis has seen one by one all his 
old companions in the stupendous folly of 1861 go over 
to the great assize. Toombs, Stephens, Wigfall, Floyd, 
Mason, Slidell, Iverson, Judah P. Benjamin, Brecken- 

316 



Fugitive Pieces 

ridge, Sebastian Pierre Soule and the elder Butler, of 
South Carolina, who were political confreres of the once 
powerful Southern leader, have preceded him into the 
"great still country." Quietly living in this city, passing 
away a serene old age — his offspring enjoying the favor 
of the present Democratic supremacy, as he enjoyed the 
same favor and honor more than a generation ago — is a 
gentleman who probably could give the world many in- 
teresting facts relative to Jefferson Davis, as his intimacy 
with him in the cabinet councils of the nation permitted 
the opportunity for their collection. 

Judge James Campbell, who was a law judge in our 
Common Pleas before the war, was with Jefferson Davis 
for four years in the cabinet of President Franklin Pierce 
— Davis as Secretary of War, Campbell as Postmaster 
General. Pierce's cabinet enjoys the unique distinction 
in our national history of being the only one that re- 
mained unchanged through the entire four years' incum- 
bency of the President appointing it. This speaks well 
for the entente cordiale of the Constitutional family. 
There was only one vacancy in the Pierce administration 
during its term — that of the Vice-President, William R. 
King, of Alabama, who died shortly after his election. 
He was in Cuba in feeble health when the time arrived to 
take the Constitutional oath, which was administered to 
him before the American consul there — the only instance 
of the kind in our history. 

Jefferson Davis' birthday will not be quite so vocifer- 
ously remembered by the American people as that of 
Washington, or of Lincoln, who was born a year later 
than Davis — 1809, February 12th. Both these historic 
characters were born in Kentucky, one in Christian, the 
other in Hardin County, in the bluest of the blue-grass 
region of the State. Davis drifted South, Lincoln North, 
and their political courses diverged accordingly until 
culmination as opposing chieftains of great armies and 
governments in the irrepressible conflict. Davis was a 
year older than Lincoln, two years older than the fiery 

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Toombs, four years older than Alexander H. Stephens, 
five years older than the "Little Giant" Douglas, five 
years older than William L. Yancey, four years older 
than Judah P. Benjamin, two years older than Yulee, 
and twelve years older than that other brilliant young 
Kentuckian who followed him into the folly of the re- 
bellion, John C. Breckenridge. All these died long be- 
fore Davis, and the aged ex-President of the Confederacy 
could well lament and say with Ossian, "Where are the 
companions of my youth?" 

It is true, as Governor Curtin says, "that the brave 
soldiers of the war are fast passing away." There has 
no braver or more chivalric soldier and gentleman gone 
over to the great majority since the war closed than R. 
Biddle Roberts, of Chicago, formerly of Pittsburgh, and 
well known in every quarter of Pennsylvania. Colonel 
Roberts had for a number of years resided in Chicago, 
where he had been counsel for that great leased branch of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad — the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne 
and Chicago Railroad. Before the war Biddle Roberts, 
like E. M. Stanton, the great war minister, and Colonel 
Samuel W. Black, who was killed at Mechanicsville, was 
enjoying a quiet life, practicing law in the city of Pitts- 
burgh. There w^ere but few stood higher as lawyers 
than these three. Biddle Roberts was United States Dis- 
trict Attorney for the Western district ; Stanton had been 
counsel with an Illinois lawyer of some reputation named 
Lincoln, at Cincinnati, in a patent case of notoriety, and 
was also counsel for the Economite Company ; Sam Black 
was the foremost criminal lawyer at the Pittsburgh Bar. 
All three were strong Douglas Democrats; but when the 
curious sequence of events which caused the war shaped 
itself into a question of the integrity of the Union, each 
of these Pennsylvanians knew instinctively where to take 
his stand and they threw all their individual energy and 
powers into the hands of the Government for its preser- 
vation. 

Colonel Roberts organized the First and Seventh Penn- 

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Fugitive Pieces 

sylvania Reserves — numerically the Thirtieth and Thirty- 
sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers — at Camp Wayne, not 
far from West Chester, in the month of June, 1861. 
The war fervor was at its height and boys in blue, in 
answer to Uncle Abe's call, were pouring down from all 
parts of the Commonwealth in a great loyal stream to the 
recruiting camps and organizing posts. To Governor 
Curtin belongs the honor of establishing out of part of 
this element the Reserves, whose valor will be remem- 
bered to Pennsylvania's credit as long as the republic 
survives. Many Chester and Delaware County people 
recall a grand outpouring of the patriotic people, young 
and old, of these Quaker localities, where war is depre- 
cated, on July 4, 1861. The occasion was the muster by 
Governor Curtin and his staff of the two regiments, the 
First and Seventh Reserves, in which so many brave boys 
of these two loyal counties were enlisted. There was the 
largest assemblage of the yeomanry ever gathered in one 
place in Chester County, and the muster took place be- 
fore this throng in Everhart's Grove, a beautiful piece of 
woodland, not far from the borough. R. Biddle Roberts 
was elected colonel of the First Regiment and he served 
in this capacity — with the exception of a detail as assist- 
ant provost marshal of the Army of the Potomac while 
the army was organizing under McClellan — until No- 
vember 1, 1862, when at the special order of Governor 
Curtin he was put upon his staff in the Executive Mili- 
tary Department of the State. Colonel Roberts led his 
regiment in all the severe and bloody fighting on the 
Peninsula and was several times commended specially on 
the field for gallantry. He was beloved by every man in 
his command, which sent him in the spring of 1864 from 
the field a beautiful gold corps badge, with the names of 
the battles the regiment had been in engraved upon it, 
and was at all times the courteous and courageous soldier 
and officer. 

In person Colonel Biddle Roberts was in later years 
quite stout, his hair and face dark, but lit up by a keen, 

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Fugitive Pieces 

searching black eye. His manners to all, high or low, 
rich or poor, were full of instinctive gentility. As a 
pleader he possessed a forcible, sometimes very eloquent, 
voice, and was always logical and profound. His move- 
ments and manners of late in court — his illness prevented 
him for some time from active work — reminded one very 
much of General Butler, although not resembling the lat- 
ter at all in personal appearance. But he had Butler's 
swing and gait and was about his size and shape. 



320 



CHAPTER XXIV 

CONCLUDING WORDS 

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. 
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 
To the last syllable of recorded time ; 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle, 
Life's but a walking shadow ; a poor player ; 
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, 
And then is heard no more; it is a tale 
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, 
Signifying nothing. 

— Shakespeare. 

The Bible says, somewhere, "Oh, that mine adversary- 
had written a book !" Perhaps this is for the reason that 
it lays open the character and small details in a man's 
disposition so well that he is at the mercy of his enemies 
and the joints of his harness are somewhat open to the 
javelin darts of those who might wish to assail him. 
This would be the case in a book of the character of this 
one I have written. At the outset I mentioned that there 
would be many matters exceedingly personal, and that it 
was impossible otherwise to cover the space of time and 
the experiences I have gone through in many ways with- 
out bringing in myself. I trust, however, that I have 
made no enemies nor offended by "knocking" in any way, 
as it was not my intention. The idea in writing the book 
was to simply cover certain historic incidents coming 
within my ken, particularly those in which I was an actor 
and which might have otherwise been lost altogether had 
they not been put down in permanent form. I could 
have filled the book with a great many newspaper articles 
which would have been bright and readable, but of only 
current interest, and I could have written a great deal 
more about local politics and the actors in certain conten- 

321 



Fugitive Pieces 

tions in the county; but as these have gone into the past 
and most of them been forgotten, and many of the char- 
acters and principals in them are deceased, I thought 
perhaps it would be better to omit such descriptions. I 
have tried to be frank and fair, and where I have made 
mistakes they have been of the head and not of the heart 
and are capable of being corrected by any reader who is 
familiar with the incidents described. Some of the dates 
and events perhaps are not accurately related, but so 
nearly so as my recollection of them now can carry me 
back. It is not an easy thing to summon from the past 
events that have occurred a half-century ago and write 
them out in detail with perfect accuracy. When it comes 
down to near the present it is not so difficult. The poli- 
tics of to-day have changed entirely from the politics of 
the time when I first entered the arena of that great game 
of checkers with men. It was then all delegates, conven- 
tions and representative government. It has now become 
a craze for the primaries, the initiative, the referendum 
and recall. There is again a tinge of socialism in the air, 
and we hear the echo of it from the middle West, but 
hardly to such an extent as to be a great factor. Since 
the blowing up of the Los Angeles Times and the mur- 
ders committed by the McNamaras and the labor troubles 
attendant upon this tragedy there has been an effacement 
of much of the bitterness of the strong labor movements. 
The big labor leaders are exceedingly quiet and tentative 
in their plans. At the last annual meeting of the Federa- 
tion of Labor in Philadelphia the president, Mr. Gom- 
pers, surprised many of those who have been familiar 
with his past addresses with his very conservative atti- 
tude, holding as he did the Federation down to the most 
moderate and quiet projects and purposes. 

The 1916 campaign, which is soon to be on, looks like 
a battle royal between the old parties. The Republican 
party has recovered its prestige and will "carry the 
flag and keep step to the music of the Union," and all 
the Progressives who were carried away by the powerful 

322 



Fugitive Pieces 

personality of Theodore Roosevelt will be back again in 
the ranks ready to do service and glad to return. As 
I have said, there is no doubt in my mind but what the 
President will be renominated by his party, as his control 
of the patronage is so active and resolute and he is so 
much of a politician now that he can easily secure to him- 
self a renomination, but the question of election is an- 
other matter. He will have to reckon with the Hon. 
William Jennings Bryan, who left the cabinet for reasons 
which do not appear very clear on the surface, but which 
will probably be more in evidence to the public when the 
campaign is on next year. I am loath to send this book 
out without a more interesting and satisfactory relation 
and narrative, but I have done my best, and trust that it 
will meet with the approbation or at least with the ap- 
preciation, of my friends, a great many of whom have 
been so very kind in helping me toward getting it in 
shape to put before the printers and to put it in condition 
for the publisher. There must be an end to all things, 
and I end this by wishing this work will have the ap- 
proval of those who have taken an interest in it and who 
will read it. 



323 



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